


Dark Destiny

by Do_Whatever_You_Want_Im_Super_Dead



Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Don't Give a Fuck, F/M, let's get this started, should've reworked this before transferring this, totally self-indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-05-07 12:42:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 34,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19209670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Do_Whatever_You_Want_Im_Super_Dead/pseuds/Do_Whatever_You_Want_Im_Super_Dead
Summary: Elizabeth Langford was never an ordinary girl, although it's hard to be ordinary when there's a seed growing in your chest giving you an immense amount of power. For another, she's been secretly training with Obi-Wan Kenobi to be a Jedi for five years. Now she's about to change the galaxy like no one else had before. Rated T for language. Imported from Fanfiction dot net





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I've been cooking this idea for quite some time, and I think it's going to be an awesome one!  
> Basically, I'm changing the movies just slightly with the added character of Elizabeth Langford. This was originally going to be a story about Seedlings on Earth without Star Wars involved in the way that it is, but then I watched Rogue One and my imagination sparked.  
> Background info I thought you'd like to know: Seedlings are humanoids who have a seed over their heart from the moment of their birth, either due to exposure to the rock the Seedling planet is made from or from their parents being Seedlings. They have powerful Force abilities, and on Earth it is regarded as magic. They went into hiding after the Salem Witch trials, and Elizabeth just happens to be the first in 2000 years to find their home galaxy. The Seedlings' destinies are all steeped into the Dark Side, and their seed grows every time they give in even a little bit to the Dark Side. If they attempt to force off their seed, they die instantly. There is a way to get rid of it without dying, but I won't tell that to you yet ;).  
> Elizabeth's story will start when she first meets Obi-Wan Kenobi, but the next chapter will be her at the end of the five years.  
> I really hope you like the story, and please review and tell me what you think!

Elizabeth Langford woke up in her bed suddenly, knowing that today was the day: the day her life would change forever. She didn't know how she knew, maybe it was the dreams (visions? she wondered) or maybe it was the way her seed was growing and pulsing inside of her chest.

As a Seedling, she was gifted with a huge amount of power that her family wasn't. Her family was human, and she was a Seedling. No one could figure out why. She always thought that it was the norm, not the exception. Time and again, however, she saw that she was the former, not the latter.

She had been practicing her powers with the help of some children's shows that dominated her life: My Little Pony, Ben 10, even Star Wars. She went outside to try to figure out something that she saw in My Little Pony: teleportation.

As she prepared herself for the feat, she made an X on the ground at the other side of her backyard with her sister watching. She closed her eyes and thrust her arms up, opening her hands to the sky in an almost desperate prayer-like or warrior stance. She concentrated on disappearing and reappearing on the X. Her thoughts, however, wandered to Star Wars again as she was harnessing her power (particularly Obi-Wan's hut on Tatooine), and she opened her eyes to see the earth disappearing in a whirl of light. She blinked many times, and the scene in front of her changed to a desert with not much life, but a metal door right in front of her. She suddenly became frightened. Where was she? Was she even in Kansas?

No, she wasn't, she realized.  _I'm not even on Earth anymore, am I?_

Suddenly, an old man walked out and looked at the girl who had suddenly appeared there as if out of nowhere. He then realized that she might not have realized where she had appeared and said, "Well, hello there, little friend! Come in before the suns give you a severe burn!"

Scared, she cowered away from the old man, not knowing who he was or where he came from or his intentions. He simply held out a hand and gave a warm smile as he said again, "Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you. Can you even understand me?" He muttered to himself, "I hope she does, otherwise we're in quite a conundrum."

"Who are you?" she asked. "What do you want? Why should I come in?"

"Well, the twin suns will scorch your skin without proper protection, for one, and for another, there's a band of sand people about to come through here, so I'm trying to help you," the old man reassured her. "My name is Ben, Ben Kenobi. I only want to help you get back where you came from and to know who you are."

Recognizing the name from her old favorite movies but confused as to what he could possibly mean, she asked, "Where am I?"

"Come inside, and I'll try to help you, little one," Ben offered her, his hand still outstretched. His eyes, while confused as to this particular happenstance, were kind and wished to help as much as possible.

Elizabeth hesitated before taking it and following Ben inside the surprisingly cool house. He sat her down and offered her water, which she happily drank. The use of magic always wore her out in some way, and this stunt had rendered her dehydrated.

"Where am I?" she repeated after taking a few fresh gulps of water.

"The planet Tatooine," Ben explained. "Are you lost?"

"In a way. I was trying to learn a teleportation spell, but I must've gotten distracted and ended up here instead. I'm from Earth. My name is Elizabeth Langford," the young girl replied.

The old man noticed the vines growing on Elizabeth's body. They only covered a small part of her chest, so they were not too noticable to the naked eye, but her sweat caused her shirt to stick to her skin and show the vines more plainly. He delved deeply into his memory and asked, "Are you a Seedling?"

Surprised at his question, she asked, "How do you know about Seedlings? I thought that they only existed on Earth."

"There's a whole planet full of them in this galaxy. So there are Seedlings where you are from? Earth, was it?"

"Yes, I'm from Earth. Yes, there are Seedlings, but they all live in hiding on Earth. I'm guessing I'm not anywhere near home now, am I?"

"No, I believe you are not. I am sorry. You say you were learning a transportation spell?"

"Yes. I'm self-taught, and everything I know about magic I taught myself." She puffed her chest out in pride, glad to tell someone about her powers without having to worry about them telling others. The fact that there were Seedlings in this galaxy was even better for her.

"Well, I understand mysterious forces as an effect of the Force," Ben said, causing her to think harder about her situation and come out of her prideful thinking.

"The Force?" she asked, trying to glean more information about her situation.

"The Force is an energy field that connects all living things. It binds us, holds us together, all throughout the universe. It seems that there are those where you are from who can use the Force."

"So there are people who have mag - I mean, the Force - here?"

"Yes. There was once many, but most of them were killed fifteen years ago. I am one of the few left. This galaxy has a rich history, and I am sorry not to be able to tell you all about it."

 _I'm in Star Wars!_ she realized.  _But before Luke gets the droids and Alderaan was destroyed! I can't let him know too much!_

"There's a whole series of motion pictures from my home planet about this galaxy," she blurted out after another gulp of water. "It not only tells of the past, but also about a possible future. In that possible future, you die, your master dies, your old apprentice dies, lots of people die. There's someone who brings the Jedi Order back, and his dad's a Dark Lord, and there's a lot of family drama that ends up shaping the whole galaxy."

"What do you mean, Elizabeth?" the old man asked, surprised at her statement. Never before had he heard of this type of thing. He had heard before of motion pictures, which were like mobile 2-D holographic images, but never before had he heard about a series about his home galaxy.

Elizabeth realized his confusion and explained, "It's called Star Wars, and you lost your old apprentice to the Dark Side, and he's now Darth Vader, and you're protecting Luke Skywalker, his son, and your friend Bail Organa is protecting Leia, Luke's sister, and... and... and..." she ran out of breath and took another drink of water before continuing, "and the Empire's still building the Death Star, you have no idea if any other Jedi besides Yoda are still alive, and I just appeared in an awkward place in the timeline of the story, didn't I?"

Surprised at all she knew, Ben said, "Well, I guess you know my real name, then. You know, your family must be worried about you."

"They probably are, but they know to start an international search if I'm not back by the end of the week."

"Ah. Well, in the meantime, since you know somewhat where you are and WHEN you are in our story, I might as well ask: how old are you? You seem a little young to have such strength in the Force as you have demonstrated."

"I'm 14 years old, sir, and I've been training myself all my life. I got the idea for teleportation from another motion picture show I like to watch."

"Well, that's somewhat comforting. Luke's about a year older than you. Does that tell you anything?"

"He's not getting those droids for at least another five standard years, if I remember correctly."

"Exactly. Now, the Jedi are nearly extinct, and I am wondering: would you like to come back and visit occasionally, maybe train to be a Jedi, too? You obviously have the capacity to transport yourself to different planets and galaxies, and I would like you to be able to use your powers for a purpose: peace."

"Really? You want me to train to be a Jedi?!"

"Exactly. I've got nothing to do for the next five years, so I'd actually like it. It gets lonely when you're a hermit with almost no living friends. Are you interested?"

"I want to train! Definitely! I can't believe it! I'm gonna be a Jedi!" Elizabeth jumped out of her seat and jumped up and down with excitement, her vines pulsing with her, also excited for the prospect. She then suddenly thought,  _Oh man, what did I just get myself into?_

Obi-Wan interrupted her thoughts with a sigh and said, "Well, you better get home for now, but will you come back tomorrow? Or next week? I'm free for the next five years, after all, and I really only have one mission for all that time."

"I'll talk to my mom, and I'll be back as soon as I can!" she promised. Her excitement suddenly ground to a halt as she asked, "Uh, how am I supposed to get back home?"

"The same way you came, I imagine," Obi-Wan replied with a smile. "You must be very powerful in the Force to be able to teleport yourself anywhere you please, and I am sure that your powers will not fail you. Now go, and stay focused on your location that you wish to go to. You don't want to end up in the hands of the Empire!"

"I will! Goodbye!"

"May the Force be with you, young Elizabeth."

She ran outside and glanced up at the twin suns of Tatooine, making sure she wasn't really in Australia or Arizona. She closed her eyes and really focused on the X back home in her backyard, and held her hands in the same position as before. Her power ignited, and she made sure to only focus on the X this time. The desert planet of Tatooine disappeared around her, and she was on her way home.

* * *

Obi-Wan looked where the young girl had disappeared and smiled. Happy to know that the girl would be home safe, he went into some old databanks that hadn't been touched for years and looked up all information he could about Seedlings and this planet called Earth. He found nothing of Earth, but found that a colony of Seedlings did go to a distant planet in a distant galaxy to try to take it over and were never heard from again. No Seedling from that planet ever came back, and it seemed that knowledge of the Force had gone into this "magic" that Elizabeth spoke of.

He began to wonder just what he had gotten himself into.

* * *

Elizabeth appeared again in her backyard, her sister and mother running to her in tearful joy. She hugged them back and cried with them, happy to be back. Thoughts of Tatooine did not leave her mind, however, and she just had to know one thing. Before dinner that night, she looked up all possible Force abilities that she could and found that all of her powers lined up with them. The fact that there was the history of the galaxy in front of her on this computer, that this universe which everyone on Earth thought of as fictional was real and she had stepped foot into that universe. It was even in her own universe, and it was just a few trillion light-years away.

So how did George Lucas find information about this galaxy? How did he know so much about what had not even happened at the point that he made the movies? How did the writers of numerous Star Wars books know about this galaxy without being found out by that galaxy or by people form Earth?

No answer was to be found anywhere.

"Mom, can I train to be a Jedi?" she asked suddenly that night at the dinner table.

"What do you mean, sweetie?" her mother asked, curiously suspicious. "Did you arrive at a Star Wars fan's house on accident?"

"No, I landed on Tatooine!" she replied excitedly, the events swirling through her brain again. "I met Obi-Wan Kenobi at his hut, Luke Skywalker's only about a year older than me, and the Empire's not finished its Death Star! It's five years before A New Hope! Can I train with Obi-Wan, Mom? Please please please?"

Her mother looked into her eyes and saw no lie in them. Elizabeth's story, no matter how fantastical, was real, at least to the young girl. She still had two questions for her daughter.

"How do you expect to train with this man you just met and expect his story to be real? How do you know that you landed on Tatooine and not Arizona?"

"There were two suns! He had a legitimate lightsaber! What more proof do I need?"

Her mother realized that with this evidence, a whole new galaxy had just been discovered on accident by her very own daughter.  _My life just gets weirder and weirder every day_ , she thought in exasperation.

She sighed as she said, "All right, on one condition: you do not stray in your schoolwork and you work hard to be a good student as well as a Jedi. I don't want you cutting your own arm off, after all, and I don't want you to slack in your responsibilities. I want you back each day before 8:00 our time, so I'm going to get you a watch so you can keep track of time. If these conditions are not met, you will not be allowed to continue your Jedi training. Understood?"

Elizabeth, who had been listening intently the whole time, nodded vigorously as she said, "Yes, I understand! WHOOHOO! I'm going to be a Jedi!"

That night, she and her twin, Claire, spoke intently about everything that had happened that day.

"So everything in the movies was real?" Claire asked.

"Yep, down to the last Jedi," Elizabeth replied excitedly.

"And you're going to be a Jedi yourself!"

"That's the plan. Let's hope that happens before the Battle of Yavin."

"I'm sure it will! You've never failed before, and I'm sure that if you work hard enough, you won't fail ever!"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Goodnight, Earth girl."

"Goodnight, Firehead."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, my friends! This is something that I will definitely work long-term on, and I really hope that you guys think that it turns out as I think it will!  
> Something to keep in mind as I go on in this story: everything is from the cameras being pointed at Elizabeth unless I say otherwise.  
> Italics are thoughts, regular text is regular text, bold is my author's notes, and the underlined text will be when the cameras are not on Elizabeth.  
> Timeline-wise, this is right before the Battle of Skarif in Rogue One, and Elizabeth doesn't realize it yet, but the next time that she goes away to that universe she will not return to Earth - at least, not for a large amount of time, so there won't be too much college stuff after this. I like to add it for character development on Elizabeth's part.  
> Let's start the chapter already! Please review and tell me what you think!

Elizabeth, now 19 years old, looked at her new college campus and smiled, thinking,  _Man, I hope that this is the year that I become a Jedi._

It had been five years since she had first met Obi-Wan on Tatooine, and she was excited yet nervous for the coming year. This was the year when Luke would find the droids and have his life changed forever. She knew that it must happen, for the galaxy's sake. She just hoped that she would not be too involved in the story. Too much involvement could alter the course of events.

She was broken from her train of thought as her mother bumped into her as she got Elizabeth's things out of the car. Elizabeth had taken control of her Jedi training in the past year and took the year off from school to stay with Obi-Wan to train 24/7. Although her mother at first did not approve, she eventually gave in. Elizabeth was 18 now, and it was time for her to make her own decisions about what to do with her life. Elizabeth came back in time to apply for college and try to live as normal a life on Earth as a Jedi Seedling could.

THAT was easier said than done. She was the chief tactical advisor for the Rebellion now, and she had become very close friends with Leia Organa, the whole time keeping the identity of Leia's twin brother a secret. She knew that the Rebellion was planning an attack on the Empire right now, and she would be needed either that day or the next for the planning sessions to add her thoughts to the strategy.

It didn't help that she was a genius when it came to Battleship, chess, and other strategy-related games on Earth. It also didn't help that she was a very powerful Force-sensitive. She had managed to keep her magic on Earth down to a crawl and mainly unseen by the general public. Only other Seedlings and her family knew about her secret powers.

When she began to use her Force abilities to help herself get a few things up to her room, some of the other students looked at her in awe. She was carrying a mini-fridge all by herself, and it usually took the strength of two male students to carry it to someone's room. She realized that they were staring and hurried as fast as the Force would take her to her assigned dorm room. There she met a girl who looked a lot like Leia, but whose name was Maria. The girl was also a Seedling, and she recognized Elizabeth's powers right away.

"So are you a Seedling, too?" Maria asked right off the bat after they introduced themselves.

"Yes, I am," Elizabeth replied, happy to know another Seedling but unsure of her intentions.

"Coolio! You have no idea what it's like to be the only Seedling family in a whole community of humans!"

"Actually, I'm the only Seedling in my family."

"How-wait-what?"

"No one has ever been able to figure out how that is. All I know is that most of my abilities are self-taught."

"Don't you mean magic?"

"No, I mean abilities. I'm learning not only magical-like abilities but mainly Force abilities."

"Oh, then I guess you're some big-shot Jedi."

"Somewhat, but not yet."

"Okay, girl, you are cray-cray."

"Whatever you say, Maria. Hey, I have to go later today to a meeting. I'll be back before dinner."

"Okay. I'll be waiting in the dining hall." Maria paused before saying, "You know, I could help you be popular. Everyone's going to be talking about how you've used your super-strength to carry that mini-fridge here. I can make that a good thing."

"Thanks, but no thanks. I have NO intention of being popular. Being popular is exactly the opposite of what I need right now. I've got a lot of battle strategy to figure out."

"You joined the game club then?" Maria sniffed haughtily at such a thought.

"Not exactly. It's about the meeting I'm going to later."

Elizabeth finished placing all the boxes in her room and hugged her family goodbye. She and her sister both held out their holo-comm units as a promise to keep in touch. Elizabeth then used the Force to decorate her side of the room exactly how she wanted it: her bed lofted, her desk by her mini-fridge and dresser, and the wall covered in what was going on in the Rebellion and the Empire as best as she could render it, including the current plans that she had for the upcoming attack on the Empire.

"Wow, nerdy much?" Maria sniffed again. "No wonder you've no desire to be popular. You've never tasted it in the first place!"

"Even then, I didn't exactly want anyone to know I was a Seedling. I like to be mysterious as the Force itself."

"Whatever, loser. Forget the popular offer."

"You know that I had no intention of accepting that, anyway."

"WHATEVER... major loser."

Elizabeth was slightly hurt, but focused on the strategy that she was going to propose to the Rebellion. She checked it for weaknesses again and again until she was satisfied with the whole thing.

She then went out to a secluded area of the school and was about to teleport to Yavin IV when a security guard walked by and dragged her out. Apparently that area was where a lot of on-campus crimes were committed, and he was only looking for her best interests and safety. She carried her battle plans carefully so as not to let anyone else see them. Unfortunately, two Seedling bullies who were around found the plans and took them away from her roughly, using their abilities to make it hidden somewhere on campus. Elizabeth grew in anger but used a Jedi meditation technique to drive it away. She spent the whole afternoon looking for it, and once she found the plans she looked for a place on campus where she could teleport herself without being dragged away by a security guard or having the possibility of the plans being stolen again.

She finally found one, but by that time it was time for dinner. She sighed in frustration before hurrying to the cafe to grab something to eat. She saw Maria smirking at her with pride and realized that Maria had set the whole thing up. Her anger grew, but she used the same technique to calm herself before a boy with a chess set walked over to her and asked her, "May I sit here?"

"Go ahead!" Elizabeth replied. "Wanna play?"

He took a minute to realize that she was speaking of the chessboard, and he accepted her offer. She beat him in under 20 moves, and he asked, "How are you so great at this game?"

"Strategy, my friend. What's your name?"

"Diego Mundo."

"Elizabeth Langford."

"Very nice to meet you, Elizabeth Langford. You are indeed a worthy opponent in chess. Wanna play Stratego later?"

Knowing full well that she couldn't go to a meeting for the Rebel Alliance until the next day, she said, "I accept your challenge. I warn you, though, I'm very good."

"We'll see."

Later that night, she beat him in every game he challenged her to. After a while, she began destroying him in their battles.

"Wow, you're the best strategist in the world!" he praised her after being utterly beaten.

"I wouldn't say the best. I know a few in the Rebellion that are better than I am. I'm just an advisor."

It took both of them a full minute to realize what Elizabeth just said to Diego.

"Rebellion? Is that some kind of Star Wars fan club?"

"Yeah, totally! It's really awesome, you should check it out sometime!"

She ran to her room and shut the door quickly behind her, glad that the plans were hidden somewhere in the room before Maria came in. Elizabeth breathed heavily, fear filling her whole body.  _What was I thinking? I just nearly told him my secret!_

She then checked to see if the plans were still where she hid them. They were, and she sighed in relief that Maria had not found them yet. Maria wasn't back from a night of partying yet, so Elizabeth turned in for the night, hoping that Maria would not find her secret battle plans.

* * *

The next day, she quickly got her plans out and went to breakfast before finding her special spot again. She closed her eyes and held her hands high above her head. She focused on the massive Massassi temples of Yavin IV and felt the Force transporting her to her desired destination. As she was disappearing, she opened her eyes to see the earth disappear in a swirl of light. She smiled as she saw Maria looking her way, jaw practically dropping to the floor.

Elizabeth then reappeared at the hangar bay area of the temple, Princess Leia waiting patiently for her.

"Where were you yesterday? We were getting worried that you might not come."

"Sorry, Leia. Some students found the plans and hid them well enough to make me look for them all afternoon. I've got them here now, though, ready to present to the Council," Elizabeth explained.

Her friend smiled as she said, "Don't worry about it. Come on, we're waiting for you."

Leia led her to the battle room, where everyone greeted Elizabeth kindly. It was like being with good friends, which in a way they were.

"Ah, Elizabeth! There you are!" Mon Mothma greeted her kindly, wearing beautiful white clothing that matched her position of power in the Rebellion.

The Alliance showed her their current plan for battle based on Elizabeth's previous battle plans, and Elizabeth showed them her plans and saw that the two were almost exactly alike.  _They learn so fast,_  she thought to herself.

She made the changes necessary to make the mission a success, and she was happy with their progress. Explaining that she was needed back on Earth, she bid them luck with their old saying: "May the Force be with you all."

She then went outside and teleported herself back to her secret spot at school. Maria was waiting for her.

"What was that?!" Maria asked, flabbergasted at what she just saw occur. "What did you just do?"

"It's a long story, Maria," Elizabeth replied, "and not one I should tell to you. Because of you, I was a day late. They're getting ready for the plans tomorrow! Besides, your jealousy has been nothing but cumbersome."

"Elizabeth, I'm sorry! I didn't realize that you weren't joking when you said that they needed you. I didn't realize that were working for an actual Rebellion! I didn't know that you were a military strategist!"

"Not so loud! I've been trying to keep this a secret for years! Do you want the whole campus to know that one of their students is capable of planning the most deadly attack ever seen on the face of the Earth? Do you want them to know that there is a student with such abilities with the Force that she can take herself away to a galaxy far, far away?"

Maria shook her head, ashamed and yet still flabbergasted. "I'm sorry, Elizabeth. I didn't realize that those plans were real. I thought that you were just kidding, or that they were not for some video game."

"You looked at my battle plans?!"

"Yes, I did! I put them back unchanged, though! I thought that they were just a joke! I didn't realize... I didn't think..."

"Maria! It's okay. I forgive you. You did leave them where you found them, unmarked. I'm sorry for bursting out like that. It's not the Jedi way. I'm going to have to tell Obi-Wan now..."

"So the Jedi, Star Wars, the Empire... it's all real?"

"Yes. I first got there five years ago when I first learned to teleport myself to other places. I was excited and scared, mainly because I didn't know where I was. That day, I began my training with Obi-Wan Kenobi. It would be about five years for Luke to get the droids and change the face of the galaxy forever. Those five years are up. It's coming, very soon."

"So what's happened, movie-wise, so far? What episodes?"

"1, 2, and 3. Episode 4 is about to take place, and it will put the galaxy in the biggest adventure of a lifetime."

"So are you Luke?"

"No. Luke and Leia are still real. I'm actually friends with Leia, and she's really cool. There's a reason I do not seek popularity on Earth. I already have that and responsibility in that galaxy. I am the chief tactical advisor and strategist in the Rebellion. I am training to be a Jedi Knight. My life there is as crazy cool and complex as my life here, maybe more."

"Oh, okay. I didn't-"

"I make it a goal to let no one know, so please tell no one about this. Please. It's hard enough training without my powers being visible to the humans and Seedlings; I don't need anyone knowing that I'm a Jedi-in-training."

"I understand, Elizabeth. I won't tell anyone. That's a promise."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I'm starting school next week, so this is going to be interesting! I'll try to update as often as possible, but I can't promise anything!  
> Hope you enjoy it! Please review and tell me what you think!  
> Something before we go forward: when a Seedling is using the power of the Dark Side, even if it has no external effects, their vines grow. You'll see why I say this now.

It was about a week into school when Elizabeth suddenly felt a tremor in the Force unlike anything she had sensed in her lifetime. Maria noticed it, as they were in their dorm, studying.

"What is it?" she asked her new friend.

"A blast from the Force, like a billion voices crying out in pain and fear and being cut off suddenly, gone forever," Elizabeth replied. It suddenly dawned on her as she said, "Alderaan must have been destroyed. The Death Star - it's been used." She got up and packed a bag with clothing, toiletries, and personal items as she said, "I must go back to Yavin IV. The Rebellion might need me! I have to go!"

"But what about your life here on Earth?" Maria asked frantically. "What will happen if you disappear to the galaxy and never come back? What will your family think? What will the school think? Think this through!"

"I've already made up my mind, Maria," Elizabeth replied sharply but calmly. "I must go and help the Rebellion if it is to survive the Death Star."

She finished packing and began to walk out the door. Maria followed her and said, "I want to come with you, then."

"I'm sorry, Maria, but your life here on Earth is too important for you. My destiny lies elsewhere. Yours lies here."

"Well, at least let me walk you to where you can go in secret. And help you pack."

"Okay, but no farther."

They went off to a secret spot off-campus after Elizabeth, and they hugged goodbye for what they thought might be the last time. "May the Force be with you, Maria."

"May the Force be with you, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth thrust her hands up into the air again, closed her eyes, and focused on Yavin IV again. It had been hours after the tremor in the Force had blasted to Elizabeth, and she wanted a piece of the action. The world around her disappeared again in a swirl of light, and Maria walked away, keeping her promise.

* * *

Elizabeth reappeared at the base, where a Corellian freighter was just touching down. Elizabeth felt around and recognized the signature of Princess Leia, and noticed three other life signs onboard along with two droids. She ran to the walkway and met Leia with a huge embrace. Suddenly, she noticed that the princess, however regal she looked with her cinnamon buns and white dress, smelled like garbage.

"What happened, Princess? Did we win? What's going on?" Elizabeth asked frantically, dropping her bag in her rush to get information.

"I was caught by the Imperials, and I saw Alderaan destroyed. Luke, this smuggler, and a giant walking carpet rescued me. Obi-Wan Kenobi was with them, but..."

The princess drifted off sadly, and Elizabeth looked at a blond man who went off the ramp who also looked sad. He wore a lightsaber on his belt, and she said, "You must be Luke." She turned back to the princess and asked, "Obi-Wan's dead, isn't he?"

Leia and Luke merely nodded, and Elizabeth broke down into tears, sitting on her dropped bag. Luke sat down next to her, and Leia on the other side, all sharing in that moment of grief for the old Jedi Knight.

Suddenly, Elizabeth burst up, feeling the approach of the Death Star to Yavin. "We've only got an hour. It's coming."

"What's coming?" a brown-haired man who also went off the ramp asked her incredulously.

"What do you think she's talking about? She means the Death Star!" Leia snapped at him, both she and Luke getting up just as swiftly.

"It's coming in an hour?" Luke asked.

"No, I mean it will be here and ready to destroy Yavin IV in an hour!" Elizabeth replied quickly, not wanting to waste a single moment. "If we don't act now, we will suffer the same fate as Alderaan!"

Luke nodded, and Leia cut in, "We need to look over the technical readouts of the Death Star before we can attempt an attack. You know better than anyone else here that our goal is to find a weakness and exploit it."

Elizabeth nodded and asked, "Where are they?"

"Inside that droid," Leia pointed out an R2 unit that rolled off the ramp after them, accompanied by a golden protocol droid.

Leia and Elizabeth brought the droid to the war room, where the schematics were projected onto a screen for the entire Rebel fleet to see. Elizabeth quickly scanned the plans and quickly saw a weakness: a part in the reactor core accessible by a thermal exhaust port that, if hit by a proton torpedo, would start a chain reaction that would blow the entire station up.

They presented the plan to the fleet, and Elizabeth went to the hangar area where all the X-wings and Y-wings were kept, and saw the pilots rushing to get to their fighter. Luke grabbed her hand and pulled her to where the uniforms are kept, handing one to her and saying, "Come with me. I've got an idea."

"Are you crazy? Even a Y-wing can only comfortably fit one person! What are you thinking?" Elizabeth argued.

"If you are who I think you are, I know that we can do this together. Just trust me."

Elizabeth looked into Luke's eyes, and said, "Fine. Let's hope that you're correct."

She put on the suit and ran with Luke to his fighter. He hid her behind the seat of the fighter, where she crouched down low to avoid being seen by the other Rebels. Luke got the R2 unit that had the plans in it when they arrived, and he began the startup sequence. Once they took off and were out of the atmosphere, she got up and asked Luke, "What's your plan?"

"You can help me locate where in the trench the port is located, and I'll do the actual shooting. I'm the pilot, but you're like a navigation computer. Sorry if that sounded dumb in any way."

"No, you're fine, Luke. I'm happy to help, although I am a strategy advisor, not a warrior. Not yet, at least. Now I might not ever be."

"Don't talk like that. Ben was teaching me to be a Jedi, too, and now he's gone from both of us. We can't think about that right now, however. We need to destroy this Death Star."

"Indubitably. My name is Elizabeth Langford, by the way."

"Luke Skywalker. Nice to meet you."

After that, the fighters all signed on, and the two companions kept their talking to a minimum. Elizabeth showed Luke where the trench with the exhaust port was, and they blasted away any TIE fighters that came their way. Suddenly, Elizabeth felt a powerful presence in the Force - particularly the Dark Side - and looked back to see Darth Vader's personal TIE fighter coming at them. Most of the Rebel pilots were gone now, destroyed by one too many blaster bolts. It was up to them, now.

"Uh, Luke, don't look now, but Darth Vader is right behind us," Elizabeth quickly said, louder than she meant to.

A voice on the commlink asked, "Elizabeth, what are you doing up there? You could get yourself killed!"

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing!" she replied, loud enough to go over the comm.

Suddenly, a rage began to boil in her bones. She realized in that moment that it was Darth Vader who had killed Obi-Wan! Wanting nothing but revenge against the one who had taken her teacher away from her, she seethed in anger, descending to the Dark Side. Her vines grew, soaking in the  
Dark Side and covering more of her body, pulsing with power. Luke, obviously sensing what was happening in the back, turned off his comm for a little bit as he said, "Elizabeth, now's not the time to want revenge. We have to stay focused on the mission."

"But he killed Obi-Wan!" she nearly shouted as she felt her rage boil hotter, the Dark Side practically coursing through her veins and pumping through her vines.

"I know, I saw it happen!" Luke replied. "But you know what? Revenge will not save the Rebellion! Revenge is not the Jedi way! Even I know that, and I've only been training for a day!"

Elizabeth took a step back in her mind and realized what was happening. She used a Jedi meditative technique to calm herself down, and she said, "Let's just shoot this thing to bits. You have the targeting systems on?"

"Yeah."

Suddenly, a familiar voice rang through the cockpit: "Use the Force, Luke and Elizabeth." Both looked around for a possible source, and the voice came again: "Trust me!"

Luke and Elizabeth realized who was speaking: the late Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke turned off the targeting system, and he and Elizabeth connected through the Force while radio chatter frantically asked why in the Force Luke turned the system off. Han came in from above and began shooting at the TIE fighters behind them, giving them room to focus. Luke shot the torpedo, and Elizabeth used the Force to guide it to its target. They quickly flew away, and the horrible weapon was destroyed, blown up into a million million pieces.

Suddenly, Elizabeth felt what she thought was the biggest hit to her head in the world, but when she closed her eyes, she saw a different situation: the Emperor had come into her mind with Darth Vader.

The Emperor simply laughed and said, "I'm coming for you, young Elizabeth. My Heiress."

"NO!" she kept on shouting, not knowing that Luke was hearing every scream she uttered.

She then passed out, trapped in her nightmares.

* * *

Elizabeth was convulsing, screaming out in pain. Luke noticed and screamed, "Elizabeth!" before flying down to Yavin. He quickly opened the hatch upon landing and carefully took her body out of the cabin. Leia and Han were both already under the starfighter, but their smiles and cheers quickly faded as they, too, heard the screams. The three all worked together to get the young girl out of the X-wing and into the medical bay. She had, by then, calmed down, but had slipped into a coma.

The medical droid put her into a bacta tank to keep her alive, and Luke worried for her. He paced the floor whenever he wasn't visiting her, and when he was with her, he was sitting down or standing with a hand on the tank, saying, "Please live, Elizabeth. Please be okay. Please. I'm so sorry. It's all my fault."

Leia visited, too, and Han and Chewbacca also came to visit Elizabeth in the bacta tank. Each time, one of them had to pull Luke away, promising him to tell him if she woke up. Their anxiety only grew for the next month as she made no progress whatsoever.

Then one day she finally woke up on Luke's watch.

* * *

When she woke up, she was in a bacta tank in the Alliance headquarters. Luke was watching her while sitting in a chair, and when she opened her eyes she say him get up and say something to the medical droid before feeling herself being pulled out. She was placed on a bed, dried off, and clothed in some clothing found in her bag.

Luke came up to her, accompanied by Leia, Han, and a Wookie.

"Hey, you all right, old friend?" Leia asked her carefully.

"I'm not sure, princess," Elizabeth replied, rubbing her head, which still stung from the massive headache. "That was something that I've never felt before in my entire life."

"You think it has something to do with Vader?" Luke asked, worried.

"Definitely, and the Emperor as well," Elizabeth answered with a rising fear in her gut. She looked at her vines, settling in from their rushed growth, and winced at how much they had grown. "I failed, Luke. I failed."

"Failed what, kid?" Han asked incredulously. "You two destroyed the Death Star! You saved the Rebellion!"

"Not without you, Han," Luke reminded him. "Anyway, what do you mean, you failed?"

"I should never go do the Dark Side like I did back there," she answered frankly, "and yet I did. I paid the price. I might not stop paying the price. I failed Obi-Wan, and I failed the Jedi. It's all my fault."

"No, it's not," Leia was the one to contradict her. "You pulled yourself together so you could help Luke destroy the Death Star. We saved the galaxy from ever having to deal with that weapon ever again. You failed in the moment, but you pulled yourself up again."

"Besides, kid, I've had my bad days, and Chewie's had his fair share, as well," Han added, gesturing to the Wookie when referring to Chewie. "We all do. The important thing is that you pulled yourself together before you made it any worse."

"And more than that, you even said it yourself: you're not a Jedi yet," Luke chimed in. "You've still got room for small failures like that."

"Thanks for the encouragement, but I don't think that you know how badly I failed," Elizabeth cut in. "The Emperor knows my power now, and he's going to come after me. I can't stay with the Rebellion. I have to go, maybe back to Earth. I can't stay here and endanger the Alliance with my presence."

Leia held a hand up before saying, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're not going anywhere, young lady! The Emperor may have seen your power in that moment, but Vader was right on your tail, and you must've been pretty fired up at that moment. If the Emperor hadn't found you before then, he won't now. Even if he does, we'll guard you with our lives. You have my word."

"And mine," Luke consented, and Han and Chewie added theirs.

Elizabeth never felt so lucky to have these people as her friends.

"Could I talk to Elizabeth alone?" Luke asked the others, and they left the room to leave them in peace.

"So what were you screaming about when we were still in the X-wing?" Luke asked her, and she realized that her screams were not just in her head; they were audible to anyone nearby. Which happened to be Luke.

"Do you really want to know?"

"Elizabeth, I only want to help. It would make it easier if I knew what you saw."

"I saw the Emperor and Vader, and the Emperor was telling me that he was coming for me, calling me his Heiress. I felt the Dark Side come up inside of me, and I felt like I was trapped. That's why I was screaming." She winced, still remembering vividly what had happened in that cockpit. "I didn't just want revenge; I wanted justice for Obi-Wan's death. You know, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, life for a life."

"The problem with eye for an eye, my uncle Owen always said, is that it makes the whole galaxy go blind."

"I guess you're right. I just don't know what to think anymore. For five years I've been training to be a Jedi. I didn't ever imagine that it would come to this." She put her hand over her face, pressing her palm to her forehead, trying to ease the pain in her head that was coming hard. "I never imagined that I would fall like Vader did."

"You didn't fall like Vader did," Luke reassured her, putting a hand on her back and sitting by her side on the bed. "You came back-"

"-only because you pulled me back," she interrupted. "If not for that, I would have tried to do something to kill Vader, no matter what happened to anyone else. That was my failure."

"You do not have to worry about it, Elizabeth. It's going to be all right. You've got me, you've got Leia, you've got Han and Chewie, you've got a lot of people with you, behind your back. It's all right." Luke gave her a half-hug and held her close to comfort her.

Elizabeth sighed and just sat there, letting him do what he could to comfort her. She still felt the Dark Side coming at her, and she said, "I should never have left home. I should have just stayed on Earth and left this to all of you. You would have made this without me."

"How are you so sure?" Luke asked her. "Without you to tell me where the port was, I would have been lost. If you hadn't given us that warning, we would've ended up like Alderaan. You saved us by coming here. Don't try to tell yourself otherwise."

"How do you know that, Luke? How do you know that I saved everyone here when I probably caused everyone here to become a target for the Empire?"

"We are targets anyway because we are rebelling. Nothing you would have done would have changed that."

"I guess you're right. What do we do? I can't go back home now; Leia won't let me. I can't stay with the Alliance, the Empire will destroy us if I do. I can't go; the Empire will be able to find me a lot more easily; especially when you consider the fact that I don't know how to pilot a ship to save my life. Teleportation can only take you so far. You have to be outdoors for both destination and departure."

"It's all right not to know everything, Elizabeth. Besides, I think you should stay with the Rebel Alliance just a bit longer. Leia was telling me earlier how you are the best tactical and strategic person in the Rebellion. The Alliance could not've gone this far without you. Now think: the Empire knows the location of our base. That happened before you arrived. What then, strategically, the next best course of action for the Rebellion?"

Elizabeth thought long and hard before saying, "I have to go speak to Leia."

When she tried to get up, Luke held her back, saying, "I'll go get her myself. You are in no condition to go anywhere right now."

He then went out of the room and came back with her old friend, and Leia asked her, "What did you want to tell me?"

"We cannot stay on Yavin for too much longer. The Empire knows that we're here, so we must go out to other planets to hide our forces until the time is right to strike. I was thinking about having us go to those places that were suggested as bases about a year ago. We'll have to divide our forces so as to make sure that our numbers are safe, and divide the leaders up among them so as to keep them all safe. We can all communicate by hologram communication." Elizabeth feigned feeling well enough to make that plan up, when really it was the first thing that popped up into her head.

Apparently, Leia liked the idea. "I'll tell the Council. Hope you feel better soon. When Luke touched down and opened the cockpit, you were screaming at the top of your lungs. We had to get five restrainers to hold you down because you were flailing so much. You must've been in a lot of pain." Leia gave Elizabeth a hug and walked out of the room, looking back once before closing the door.

"What is my destiny here?" Elizabeth thought aloud. "What role do I play here? Am I meant to be here? Should I have stayed at home instead of coming? What-"

Luke cut her off with a finger on her lips. "Hey, no talking until you hear me out."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup, gonna cut off here... hehehehehe  
> Yeah, I know I'm evil.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, Jedi and Sith alike! Well, I put the last chapter at a very strange moment, but I'm happy that I did! I like similar chapters to stay together.  
> I really hope you like it, so please review to tell me what you think!  
> May the Force be with you!

"Elizabeth, just because you fall once doesn't mean that you will fall again," Luke explained, his finger still on her lips. "I may not know you that well personally, but from what Leia and Obi-Wan have told me, you're a very strong girl with a powerful determination. I would be glad to call you my friend if you so wish for me to be called so. I know that together we can stop the Dark Side and the Empire. Do you trust me, Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth thought long and hard on the matter, then nodded. Luke took his finger off of her lips and gave her a hug before going off, as Threepio was calling his name.

* * *

Later, at the ceremony that Leia held to honor those who had helped destroy the Death Star, Elizabeth walked down the long aisle with Han, Luke, and Chewbacca by her side. At the pedestal at the front of the room, Leia draped a medal around the necks of the three humanoids while simply thanking Chewie with a big hug. Elizabeth found out later that Wookies did not desire medals; their reward is to help those they care about.

After the ceremony, Leia pulled Elizabeth aside and said, "Well, I have spoken to the council, and they agree. They are looking for a way to put your plan into action. Right now, as it stands, you, Luke, Han, Chewbacca and I will all be together on the ice planet Hoth. There will be a few squadrons with us on the planet, and we will be able to stay in an abandoned Imperial base there."

"Thank you, Leia," Elizabeth replied before hearing a beep coming from her holocommunicator. She took it out and opened the call. It was her sister on Earth.

"Elizabeth, where are you?" the figure asked angrily. "The FBI has started an international search party for you! Are you still on Tatooine?"

"Claire, it's not like that at all," Elizabeth explained quickly. "I felt a disturbance in the Force: Alderaan was destroyed. The original Star Wars trilogy has begun. I'm on Yavin, you just missed the awards ceremony."

"So the Death Star's gone, right?"

"Yes, it is. However, the Emperor and Vader know about me."

"You lost it, didn't you?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you better stay there, then, learn how to stop them. Learn how to stop yourself from losing it. I'm shocked they didn't notice you already."

"Wait, how long was I gone?"

"You don't know? You've been gone a month."

"A month?!"

"Yeah. You must've been in a coma or something not to know that."

"I'll talk to you later. I've gotta go. See you later."

"See ya later."

The next moment after the connection was broken, Elizabeth turned to her old friend angrily and yelled, "Why didn't you tell me I've been out of it for a month?! Don't you think that you could've at least mentioned it?!"

"Elizabeth, calm down. Luke and I were going to tell you after the ceremony anyway," Leia said sharply, putting a hand on Elizabeth's shoulder, on which the vines were beginning to grow again. "You are already under hot water with the Imperials, you don't need the Emperor noticing that you're here."

"Maybe it's better if I go back down to Earth, so you guys won't be in any more danger with me," Elizabeth said sadly after taking a few breaths to calm herself.

"Are you crazy? You know that I would never allow that, and Luke needs you and you him, now more than ever," Leia assured her friend. "Besides, we will need your help now that the galaxy probably knows about us. You are still our best strategist, and we will need you should another battle come up."

"But what if I lose it again? What if, instead of helping you guys defeat the Empire, I lose it and make things worse?!" Elizabeth worried, her fear feeding her vines.

Leia noticed and said, "Then we will get Chewie to stop that from happening. He's extremely strong, and even then, Luke will do what he can to stop you, anyway, as will Han and I. We will be here for you, Elizabeth, but not if you run away. Please, stay with us. We need you."

Elizabeth realized at that moment that she DID need them, and they her. She smiled sadly and gave Leia a big hug, tears running down her face in a mix of fear and happiness. Leia hugged back, knowing that words were not needed between them in that moment.

When they pulled apart from their hug, Elizabeth asked, "So when do we leave?"

"Within the week. Hope you packed some nice winter clothes; if not, you can borrow some of mine," Leia said with relief in her eyes.

"I'm so thankful that you're my friend."

"And I of your friendship, as well."

* * *

Han pulled Elizabeth aside and asked her, "So kid, I don't think that we got properly acquainted. My name is Han Solo. And you are?"

"Elizabeth Langford. Pleased to be properly acquainted with you," she replied, shaking his hand.

"So what was that all about before you woke up? Did you have a nightmare or something?"

"It's more than that, Han. It's the Force."

"The old man talked about the Force while we were going to the Death Star. You think it's real?"

"I've never known a point in my life where the Force wasn't there in one way or another. At first, I thought that it was magic, but now I know better."

"So this was the Force tormenting you in your dreams, or what?"

"No; it was someone using the Force to torment my dreams."

"Any idea who?"

"The Emperor and Vader. I don't know any other Force-users who would do such a thing."

"Well, as long as you are with us, we won't allow you to fall into their dirty hands. Take my word: if the Emperor wants you, he has to go through Chewie and me first. Luke and Leia would probably be right alongside us to protect you. We won't let anything happen. Trust me, kid."

He put his hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes with a look of confidence and comfort. She smiled, feeling luckier than ever for those she had come to call her friends.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, Jedi and Sith alike! Here, we will go over the arrival at Hoth, as I like to have my OC in some very huge moments of awe. She has never been in hyperspace before, even with going to Yavin multiple times, as simple teleportation gets her where she wants to be.  
> I actually looked it up, and teleportation, while rare, is still an ability of the Force. Glad that I got that in my mind as I write this.  
> Please review and tell me what you think!

Elizabeth boarded the Millennium Falcon with Leia and Luke while Han and Chewbacca worked on the hyperdrive (again) and took her seat in the cockpit area. She had never seen a ship go into hyperspace while in that ship, so she was excited. Han showed her what she would need to do in the backseat, and she kept her hands away from the various switches until he told her to do otherwise. Her eyes were so full of excitement that Han had never seen in a person in the galaxy. He reminded himself that she WASN'T from this galaxy and got the hyperdrive in enough working order to allow them the trip to Hoth.

When the ship went to hyperspace, the stars stretched into a billion lines in front of the transparisteel, and they suddenly merged into a tunnel of various hues of blues and whites that enveloped the ship. Elizabeth was awed by the sight, and Han simply smiled to see her this way. Luke came in and saw her awed, and he decided to simply sit with her and watch the stars merge together in hyperspace as they traveled to Hoth.

He said, "Beautiful, isn't it? I used to dream of seeing the galaxy, of going to the Imperial Academy just to get away from the boring planet of Tatooine. Now, though, I wish that I was still with my aunt and uncle, getting ready for the harvest." He shook his head as he corrected himself, "But they're dead. Killed by the Empire. I now train to be a Jedi so that others might not suffer their fate. Obi-Wan was going to train me, but now..."

The farm boy from Tatooine suddenly looked sad and sorrowful, momentarily mourning over the death of his old teacher. Elizabeth also joined his sorrow, moving closer to the boy and putting her arm around his shoulders in empathy. She had felt something missing from this, as well (I mean, you don't exactly have a close teacher for five years and not feel anything when they are murdered). When she felt a burning desire for revenge coming back up from the month before, she forced it down so that it wouldn't do anything, but the damage was done: the vines sensed it and began to throb in anticipation of the power that came with the anger and hatred of Darth Vader.

Luke noticed and simply hugged her, hoping that the act of kindness would quell her anger, at least for the moment. Thankfully, it did the trick. The desire for revenge was replaced with thankfulness to this simple farm boy who had basically dragged her along as they both destroyed the Death Star, the boy who was that monster's son, the man who she was sure had some form of feelings for her; whether as a friend or more, she did not know. The vines almost seemed to whine in protest, but they stopped any form of growth.

Leia walked in on the two hugging and said, "Hey, lovers, we're almost there. Han needs the aisle clear so he can get in and land this scrap heap."

"It's an amazing ship, and YOU KNOW IT!" Han's voice called out from the hallway, peeved at the princess of Alderaan for insulting the Falcon.

"Whatever, as long as we land safely," Leia said in annoyance as she walked out of the cockpit.

Luke got up and led Elizabeth to the rec room of the ship, where Artoo and Threepio were resting their bolts.

"Elizabeth, were you thinking about Darth Vader again?" Luke asked, referring to the earlier instance of the vines growing on her skin.

"Yeah. I mean, he killed our teacher. I've known him for five years, and he was my closest friend outside of my family. When you and Leia told me about his death, I freaked out. When I realized that it was Vader who killed him, all I wanted was revenge. You managed to get me out of that, but I started getting these horrible nightmares. Every day, I have to fight the urge to find Vader and kill him for killing Obi-Wan. I know that all that will do is bring me to the Dark Side, yet I'm not sure how I can stay with the Light." Elizabeth was very somber, and she put her head in her arms on the holochess table in shame of her outburst. "I'm not sure that I can be a Jedi anymore. Not after that."

"Elizabeth, that's not true," Luke said comfortingly, placing an arm lovingly across her back and leaning slightly onto her. "I'm sure that you can still be a Jedi. Maybe you're just not ready to face Vader yet. Maybe this is a test from the Force."

"Maybe..."

"Elizabeth, when my uncle and aunt were killed, I thought that my world had ended. I began my training as a Jedi, and Obi-Wan was killed in front of my eyes. I thought that my world had nothing worth living anymore. Then I found the Rebellion. I found you. You are a reason that I have hope for my future."

"How could I possibly be a source of hope to those who I only harm?"

"Because you are a girl who has more knowledge of the Force than probably anyone alive, and you also are an important part of this Rebellion. You have become a dear friend to me, and you are a very strong girl. How else could you have not gone to search for the Emperor and Vader?"

Elizabeth thought about Luke's words for a few moments. She nodded as she replied, "Maybe you're right. Maybe I can be a Jedi after all. Maybe we can both be Jedi. I can teach you what I know. We can help each other out."

Luke nodded and offered a hug, which Elizabeth accepted gratefully. She felt luckier than before, and her vines almost felt like they were dying a little out of disgust. She smiled. Those vines were such an annoyance, but she needed them to stay alive. If not for the fact that she'd die if she forced them off, she would have done so a long time beforehand.

Luke and her released their embrace when a roar from Chewbacca rang out through the ship, announcing that they had arrived on Hoth. Elizabeth went to the room that she and Leia shared for changing and changed into her clothing for Hoth. Leia followed soon after and did the same. Leia's hair was fashioned into a braid that went around her head like a tiara headband, and Elizabeth envied the beautiful Alderaanian princess for her naturally good looks.  _If Leia and Luke weren't siblings, she could get him if she wanted,_  Elizabeth thought as she finished strapping on her boots and coat.  _I would like to be with Luke, but there's no chance. I'm a Seedling, and he's a Skywalker. He and I? It would never work._

No sooner than she had finished her thought when Leia asked her, "So I notice that you and Luke are getting closer. Do you think you two will end up together?"

"No way. He'd never accept me in that way. Not that I wouldn't like him to do so..." Elizabeth drifted off as her will to speak about it faded.

"Hey, I'm sure that he'd love it! I've seen the way you two are around each other, and it is practically screaming that you two really like each other. Besides, after the incident at the Battle of Yavin, he hardly left your side as you were in that coma the whole month. He was concerned about you above everything else in the galaxy. I think that in itself says that he really cares about you."

"Well, I'm going to go outside and help the others. I'll talk to you later." Elizabeth hurried out of the room, not wanting to talk to Leia about the subject matter anymore.

"Okay, but this conversation isn't over!" Leia called out again.

Elizabeth simply grabbed her bags and walked out to the hangar area where everyone from the Rogue and Blue Squadrons were landing their craft. She guided them to the barracks before looking for her own room and dropping her bags off. Leia was staying in the next room over, and Luke and Han were going to stay in the barracks. Chewie insisted on staying with the Falcon.

She then went to the communications center, programmed the frequency to a top-secret Rebel leader one, and sent a message to everyone else to check in once everyone was settled or at least after everyone was present and accounted for. She then went back to her room and unpacked her bags, this time without her family there to say goodbye or a roommate to talk to. She felt lonely, and after she finished unpacking went out to find somewhere to meditate and calm her fraying nerves.

* * *

Luke found her outside, sitting just outside of the doors in a meditative stance. Her body was surprisingly not covered in ice, and her face was almost more serene than Obi-Wan's was. Almost. For moments at a time, her face would contort with fear, pain, anger, and hatred. The look would quickly pass, however, and not appear for a few moments. He noticed that her body shivered from the cold, and he was not surprised. He was cold as well, but he had lived on a desert planet for his whole life. He guessed that she wasn't used to this kind of cold. He carefully picked her up so as not to disturb her and brought her to the medical ward, which had just finished setting up its bacta tanks.

Suddenly, her comm unit went off, and he opened up the transmission, as Elizabeth did not seem to hear it.

"Where's Elizabeth? Who are you? What's going on?" the girl who looked almost exactly like Elizabeth began after a moment to realize that it was not Elizabeth who had answered the call.

"She's right here, although I think that she's frostbitten. My name is Luke Skywalker. We just arrived in the Hoth system today, and she was doing something outside. I found her freezing and brought her to the medical ward," he answered with a slight fear in his voice.

The girl simply sighed and said, "Well, at least you brought her to a medical ward. I'm Elizabeth's sister, Claire. Pleased to make your aquaintance."

"Why are you calling?"

"I just wanted to know what happened. She's my sister, after all."

"I just noticed that you're not a Seedling."

"Yeah, I'm not. No one knows why. In any case, please have her contact me when she is able to."

"I will. May the Force be with you."

"With you, as well."

The comm unit was turned off, and Luke checked in on Elizabeth. Her frostbite was only minor, and she was having another nightmare.

"It's my fault," Luke said to himself. "If I hadn't convinced her to come up with me, this never would have happened."

Leia came in and asked him, "You did what was best for the Rebellion at the time. You and Elizabeth need each other, especially now that she's the only one of the two of you who's had Force training. You are the only one of you two with combat training. You need each other if you are to become Jedi. Trust me, I know."

Luke looked fondly at the beautiful Alderaanian princess and smiled sadly, accepting that the past could not be changed. He simply sat down and watched his new friend as she healed from her hours outside the compound. He smiled in amusement as he thought of the emotions that he had developed for the young woman over the past month. Leia had talked about their years of friendship in that time, and always told Luke of not only the good times that they had had, but also the times of self-doubt and insecurity that plagued Elizabeth's psyche. Luke had grown a certain fondness for Elizabeth, and his friendship with Leia and Han grew from the time together.

Although Elizabeth healed, he kept a close watch over her, worried that she would attempt to do it again.


	6. Chapter 6

Elizabeth was meditating in the cold outside of the compound on Hoth when Luke found her again, just when she was beginning to freeze. He dragged her inside to keep her warm, and she protested greatly.

"Seriously, Luke? Is this really the time to interrupt meditation?" she asked with great annoyance.

"You were starting to freeze over, and I didn't want you to go into a coma-like state again," Luke answered as he grunted, pulling her through the hallways to her room to warm her up. "As your friend, I cannot allow you to end up killing yourself by freezing over."

"Well, you could have at least told me about my freezing over!"

"You wouldn't have listened; believe me, I tried that once. Leia and Han tried, too."

"All right, I give in."

Just then, Leia came into the room and said, "Elizabeth, the Council wishes to speak to you. It's on military matters that they think you might be able to help."

"As long as I can get warm, I'm in," Elizabeth replied, now feeling the chill in her vines.

Leia laughed as she got a warm coat to cover Elizabeth's vines and led her to the comm station. Holographic figures of the leaders of the Alliance were around a holotable, waiting for Elizabeth to arrive. Over the holotable was a diagram of a part of the Rebel fleet over Lothal, led by Commander Saato and an old rebel cell that existed before the Alliance was formally made.

"Elizabeth, welcome," Mon Mothma greeted the young strategist kindly. Mon Mothma was always motherly to Elizabeth and was the closest to her actual mother out of everyone in the galaxy. "We were waiting for you to come before telling of our troubles on Lothal."

Admiral Ackbar, a Calamarian, explained, "Our rebels on Lothal have been ambushed by Imperial forces and require assistance to escape alive. We wished to have some insight as to how we are to accomplish this."

"Of what type and how many Imperial ships are we talking about?" Elizabeth asked, looking at the diagram from as many angles as possible.

"Two Star Destroyers and half a battalion of TIE fighters against Phoenix Squadron," an old clone named Rex replied, "not to mention the Imperials have an ion cannon on one of the Star Destroyers."

"Well, the primary concern would be to destroy that Star Destroyer, but Phoenix Squadron would have to go through the TIEs to get that Star Destoyer within range," Elizabeth mused. "If we got a single skilled squadron there to destroy the Star Destroyer with the ion cannon, they would have to clear a path through the TIEs to get Phoenix Squadron out of there. Of course, you haven't told me their mission, which would be good to know."

"Evacuation, ma'am," Rex replied. "There were refugees on Lothal that the Squadron was evacuating from Lothal to Hoth, where you are. Unfortunately, the Imperials seem to have a better military strategist than is usually seen in our scanners, but given what history Lothal has, it is not unnatural. Commander Syndulla's holding up as best as she can, but even the help of two Jedi -"

"Jedi?" Elizabeth interrupted. "You never told me that there were Jedi on Lothal."

"A Jedi from the Old Republic named Kanan Jarrus and his padawan, Ezra Bridger," Rex informed her while pulling up their pictures beside the diagram.

"All right, but if even two Jedi are having problems, then they definitely need help, especially if we are to get those refugees to safety. I personally recommend Rogue Squadron, but you can choose between any of them. They are all skilled, although this mission would require more than skill. It requires pinpoint accuracy in firing, conservation of energy, and, most of all, on-the-battlefield strategy for this mission. Rogue Squadron has all of those, and I don't mind going up there myself as a battlefield strategist."

"Are you sure you're ready for such a task?" Leia asked, remembering the incident at the Battle of Yavin.

"I'm sure. I've been here on Hoth while studying up on this kind of strategy, and I am sure that I'm ready for this task," Elizabeth replied, trying to get the point across to Leia that she would not lose it again.

The Council discussed this for a while, then agreed with the plan. Elizabeth even showed with gestures what her specific plan was, then listened as they discussed the pros and cons of the plan. They all agreed that Rogue Squadron would go on the mission and that Elizabeth would go. She would stay in Luke's X-wing while he piloted while she wore the standard pilot's helmet to keep contact with both squadrons. Luke was a capable enough pilot to keep Elizabeth safe while in battle.

The Rogue Squadron was called, and after they were briefed, Luke helped Elizabeth into her pilot's gear and got his fighter ready. Artoo was put in the droid slot, and both went into the fighter before leading the squadron out of the hangar bay and into hyperspace. Elizabeth was still new to hyperspace and watched in awe as the stars melded together into a tube.

Luke looked back and saw her awe and said, "Keep alert. We're coming out of hyperspace soon, and we're going into battle."

Elizabeth prepared her mind, nodded, and said, "Let's kick some Imperial butt."

The Rogue Squadron came out of hyperspace, checked in (with Elizabeth checking in as Rogue Secret), and headed into battle. Elizabeth kept an eye on things and instructed the squadron on where to fire to save energy. The Star Destroyer with the ion cannon was taken down relatively easy due to the element of surprise. Unfortunately, that alerted the TIEs to their presence.

"Phoenix Squadron, do you read me? Commander Syndulla, do you copy? This is Rogue Secret," Elizabeth asked through the comm channel.

"I copy you, Rogue Secret, this is Commander Syndulla," a voice came over the comm unit. "Thanks for coming in and helping us. Now all we need to worry about are those TIEs."

"Let Rogue Squadron take care of those, you get the refugees to Hoth!" Elizabeth ordered. "Rogues One and Two, focus all fire on the right flank! Three and Four, the left! The rest of you, make a path for the refugee ships!"

So the battle went on, and she sensed a presence in the Force. It wasn't dark, like Darth Vader, but it was familiar nonetheless. As two fighters from Phoenix Squadron flew by with the first refugee ship, she looked and saw two men that practically emanated the Force, and she realized that they were the Jedi that Rex spoke of earlier.

Cheers came through the comm units when the ship went into hyperspace, and Elizabeth and Commander Syndulla both reminded them simultaneously, "Don't get cocky, guys, we still have a few more ships to get out of here."

Elizabeth smiled at the coincidental happening, then focused once again on the battle at hand. The amount of TIEs was dwindling, but there was still quite a few to deal with, and they lost Phoenixes Three and Six and Rogues Five and Nine. Overall, it was a successful mission, and after the last refugee ship left the Lothal system, Elizabeth comm'd to Commander Syndulla, "Let's go to Hoth, then! That's the last ship, right?"

"Yep, that is, Rogue Secret," Commander Syndulla replied, "but we've still got substantial damage."

"Lock on to some of the fighters if you can't get into hyperdrive; we'll get some repairs done on Hoth. I know a great ship mechanic," Elizabeth said with a smile.

She noticed a small freighter latch on to two of the X-wings before hearing Commander Syndulla give the order to go to hyperspace. The stars melded again as they left Lothal, and Elizabeth was happy for the ride back.

* * *

The Imperials on the surviving Star Destroyer were fuming about their loss to the Rebels. The admiral in charge of the fleet on Lothal was contacted by Darth Vader, and he answered it in a private comm room.

"Yes, my lord?" he asked in frightened anticipation.

"You have failed to bring down the Rebels on Lothal, and now they have escaped," Vader said knowingly, as if he was there the whole time (although he was currently on the other side of the galaxy). "Now you must be punished."

The admiral felt a choke hold around his throat, and he tried in vain to remove hands that were not there so as to gain oxygen. He blacked out and collapsed out of asphyxiation, and the life drained out of him as Vader made sure that he died.

"And now to find Skywalker," Vader mused to himself as he cut communications.

* * *

On Hoth, when everyone was safe inside the compound and the doors shut for the night, Commander Syndulla actively searched for the person who identified herself as Rogue Secret. She found a girl leaning on an old Corellian freighter, talking to a smuggler that Commander Syndulla had run into a few times over the past five years.

"Hey, can you help me? I'm looking for someone," the commander asked the two talkers.

"Who ya lookin' for?" the smuggler asked.

"Someone who had helped in the Battle of Lothal earlier who called herself Rogue Secret," Commander Syndulla replied.

"You've found her," the girl said, holding out her hand to the commander. "I'm Elizabeth Langford. You must be Commander Syndulla. It is an honor to meet you at last."

"I've heard of you too, Elizabeth," the Twi-lek replied, accepting the handshake, "and it's an honor to meet you as well. You can just call me Hera when we're not talking business. So you were Rogue Secret?"

"Yeah, I insisted on going to help out and hone my on-the-battlefield experience," Elizabeth said, blushing a little. "I only have experience in planning battles, and I've only been in one real battle."

"I can safely assume you've never been a pilot?"

"Yeah. I've only been in this galaxy for five years."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that I'm from a different galaxy, one which we from Earth call the Milky Way. Earth is the planet I'm from, and I came to this galaxy by accident. I was teaching myself how to teleport, and I somehow met Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"Obi-Wan Kenobi?" a different voice asked as a man with a metal covering on his right arm and a brown short ponytail walked up to the talkers. Han had already walked away to do some repairs to the Falcon (again). "I knew Obi-Wan. He was a Jedi Master in the Old Republic. He's still alive?"

"Sadly, no," Elizabeth replied. "He died on the Death Star, killed by Darth Vader." Her vines began pulsing again with anger as she thought of the man who killed her teacher.

Hera and the other man did not notice this, but Han happened to be looking by and did notice. He walked over to Elizabeth and said, "Kid, you might want to watch your anger there."

Elizabeth looked at the vines, which at this point only covered parts of her chest and neck, and used a Jedi meditation technique to calm herself. The vines whined in protest, and stopped moving.

Hera and the other man looked in awe and fear at Elizabeth.

"Yeah, I'm a Seedling, who wants to know?" Elizabeth asked as if she had been looked at that way before (which she had - multiple times).

"How were you friends with Obi-Wan?" the man asked before being elbowed by the Twi-lek, who gave him a pointed look. He sighed and said, "Forgive my rudeness. I'm Kanan Jarrus. I was a padawan in the Old Republic before the Jedi Purge."

"Nice to meet a fellow Jedi-in-training," Elizabeth said.

"Actually, I'm a Jedi Knight now, so not a Jedi-in-training anymore," Kanan told her. "I even have my own padawan now: Ezra Bridger. Remind me to have you two meet sometime."

"How about now?" a blue-haired boy about Luke's age jumped down from his hiding spot on top of the Falcon. He had been helping Han with repairs (without Han's knowing it, of course).

"Ezra, why were you hiding on the ship?" Kanan asked his padawan suspiciously.

Han noticed the jump and said, "So YOU'RE the kid messing with my ship!"

Ezra ran from Han for a while, but Han eventually relented when Chewie growled from the top of the ship, explaining that Ezra was simply trying to help repair the Falcon.

Kanan facepalmed and said, "Well, that's Ezra for you. Anyway, how's Obi-Wan? Is he still living on Tatooine? Is he still watching over what he thinks is the galaxy's only hope?"

"No. He's dead. He was killed on the Death Star. Luke's in the Rogue Squadron now, and he and I are training to be Jedi together." Elizabeth's explanation was brief, but to the point. At her last sentence, Kanan raised his eyebrows.

"Training to be Jedi? That's unlikely."

"It's true." Elizabeth then proceeded to demonstrate some of her powers to prove it. When her point was proven, she continued, "I've been training for five years, and Luke for about two months. He started his training a day or so before Obi-Wan's death. I started when I first came to this galaxy."

"She's from a planet called Earth, in the Milky Way galaxy," Hera briefly explained to the two Jedi.

"Are all people from Earth Seedlings?" Ezra asked Elizabeth, noticing the vines on her chest and part of her neck that had grown in the Battle of Yavin.

"No, most are simply humans native to Earth. I'm from a human family, but somehow I'm a Seedling. No one knows why."

"How are you training to be a Jedi? No Jedi ever before has been a Seedling. Seedlings are bound with the Dark Side," Kanan asked.

"I don't want to be a Child of Night like most of the Seedlings on my home planet. I want to fight for the light, for good! That's why I'm training to be a Jedi."

"Kanan, I think she's telling the truth," Ezra said, nudging Kanan.

"Well, if that's the case, how come you don't have a lightsaber?" Kanan asked again.

"I chose not to search for my kyber crystal yet. I'm not ready," Elizabeth explained. "If you saw what I almost did at the Battle of Yavin..." She stopped herself right there, not wanting to reveal her weakness, but Kanan placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "Hey, don't be ashamed. You're a Seedling; the Dark Side is a part of the Seedlings, whether they are from Seedling families or not. I'm actually really impressed! No Seedling I know is this strong against the Dark Side."

"No, you don't understand!" Elizabeth fled the scene, and Ezra decided to play comforter and ran after her, leaving Kanan and Hera looking on in worry.

Elizabeth got to the doors to the outside and remembered that it was nighttime, and she banged her head against it in vain.

Ezra finally caught up with her and put a hand on her shoulder, where a vine was beginning to grow again. "Hey, what was that back there?"

Elizabeth realized what was going on and ran away again, this time to find Luke. She found him and ran again in shame (she had second thoughts about trusting Luke with this sort of thing), back to her room. Luke and Ezra both followed her and entered her room just before she shut the door.

"You're not going to make me go away because you want to run from your problems," Ezra told her. "If I ran away from my problems, I wouldn't be training to be a Jedi. I wouldn't have survived as long as I have, on Lothal or in the Rebellion."

Luke took one look at her vines and ran up to her, crushing her in a hug in an attempt to stop the vines from growing. He understood what it was about, and simply hugged her, running his hands up and down her back and through her long, red hair. Ezra noticed the bond that the two shared in the Force and simply looked on in awe.

Elizabeth was comforted, but after a few moments, just when she was ready to speak, she suddenly screamed out in pain. Her body collapsed to the floor, and she began convulsing and continued to scream in pain. Her vines grew again, and Luke immediately called Leia to the scene while Ezra called Kanan. Both arrived at the same time while Ezra tried to establish a connection through the Force to Elizabeth while Luke simply held her hand, saying over and over again, "El, it's all right, it's going to be all right, El..."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, Jedi and Sith alike!  
> Just a note on date: the end of the chapter occurs on December 16, 2015, two days before the release of The Force Awakens. Just so you people know!  
> I hope you like it, and please tell me your thoughts in the reviews!

Elizabeth woke up to a larger group of people than she was used to when it came to little things like this (okay, not so little, but you get the point). Instead of just Luke, Leia, Han and Chewie, there was also Kanan, Ezra, and Hera by her bedside as well.

"How long?" she asked Luke.

"A day. Not too long," Luke replied. "Hera and her two Jedi friends wanted to talk to you about this, but I already got them up to speed. Kanan and Ezra helped out as much as possible, and that's why you only had it for a day."

"I still can't believe that this has happened before," Ezra said wistfully, his blue hair now hanging down on his shoulders. "How long has this been going on?"

"Since the Battle of Yavin," Elizabeth replied, sitting herself up on the back of the medical bed. "I hope that it doesn't go on for too much longer, but it is strange that it has lasted this long. I know of nobody in this galaxy's history who had to go through this."

"No other Jedi was ever a Seedling, and you are rebelling against a Seedling's nature," Kanan offered. "That's probably why you're like this."

"Maybe, but when I lost control of my anger at the Battle of Yavin, Darth Vader and the Emperor both realized who and what I am. I've been in hiding ever since. I would have gone back to Earth, but Leia wouldn't have it." Elizabeth stopped talking and looked wistfully at the ceiling, thinking about how much her life had changed since she felt the destruction of Alderaan.

"Thinking about your life back home?" Leia asked, leaning on the side of the bed.

"Yeah. If I was still on Earth, I would've just finished my first semester of college. Now the FBI's probably looking all over the country for me, although they probably think I'm kidnapped and dead."

Elizabeth sighed and buried her head in her arms while scrunching her legs up against her vines. Tears began to roll down her face when she realized that that day was her birthday and remembered the plans she and Claire had for the special day. She remembered Christmas, and lamented that she had to miss it because of the Empire. Her heart filled with sadness over her foolishness at the Battle of Yavin and wished that she never learned teleportation. A few soft sobs shook her body, and Luke and Ezra simply tried to comfort her. Luke got on the bed beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders while he lay his head on one of her shoulders. Ezra put a hand on her back, then put his arm around her shoulders after a look from Luke that told Ezra that it was okay to do so.

* * *

Darth Vader looked at the replay of the battle at Lothal and growled slightly. In one of the Rebel fighters, there were two familiar figures: Luke Skywalker and Elizabeth Langford, both of whom the Emperor wanted captured. Vader looked in two other fighters from Lothal and saw the figures of two Jedi from a couple years past that gave him a lot of trouble. He was annoyed, to say the least, and took it out on a poor droid who just happened to enter his room to fill up the bacta tank again. Another had to come in to do the job, but Vader was satisfied.

"We meet again, Jedi. I will soon destroy all of you or bring you to the Dark Side, whichever you decide," Vader said out loud to the hologram. The figures did not reply, but rather stood in defiant silence.

* * *

A few hours after, the medical droid cleared her to go. While she exited the room, her holocomm beeped. She answered it, and the image of her sister appeared in front of her.

"Happy birthday, sis!" Claire said, and Elizabeth was happy to know that her sister remembered this special day (then remembered that they were twins, so of course Claire would know about it).

"Happy birthday, Claire!" Elizabeth said in reply. "If I was on Earth, this would be the point that I would give you a present."

"I got you one! You have one for me?"

"Well, yeah, I never forgot about it, I just thought that I'd be home by now. It's with me on Hoth."

"It's still daytime over there, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You can just teleport your gift to me and mine to you!"

"Can you give me a specific outdoor location?"

"Our back porch. Is that specific enough?"

"Yeah. What should I be looking for?"

"Package with a big bow."

"I'll send the gift over."

"I'll be expecting it!"

Elizabeth broke the connection and got to the outside of the bunker with her present for Claire. Luke and Ezra went with her to make sure she didn't freeze herself. Elizabeth sent the present to the location Claire gave her and brought the other to herself. She opened up the present and smiled when she saw that it was a scrapbook of her life on Earth and a book of memes that had popped up in the past few months (she really liked memes, they eased the tension in her mind because of the war). She saw that it also contained letters from everyone that they knew that knew that she was a Seedling, including her roommate, Maria. She smiled at the love and support that the people in her life on Earth were showing her that her sister had compiled into this wonderful collection. It made her gift (a piece of the Death Star that had fallen on Yavin after the battle that included a kyber crystal) pale in comparison.

The holocomm beeped again and Claire's image appeared. "You like the present? It's from all of us on Earth. We miss you, Elizabeth."

"Thank you so much!" Elizabeth was tearing up because she was so overwhelmingly happy. "Do you like yours, as well?"

"Definitely! It's so cool! It's actually from Yavin?!"

"Yep, I got it after the Battle of Yavin. It's a piece of the Death Star with a kyber crystal inside of it. It pales in comparison to your gift, though, it's so wonderful!"

"Are you kidding?! No one on Earth has anything like this, and I think that it's the most awesome thing anyone's ever given me! I'll keep it safe, though; we don't want scientists figuring out that I have a piece of extraterrestrial technology and crystal. If they do, and they find out that you had it, they will go crazy with - well, you get the picture."

"Thank you! I feel bad that I cannot join you in this celebration."

"It's all right, people would wonder about you anyway."

"Is there anyone looking for me on Earth?"

"Not too many, but yes. Mainly Seedlings, but no one's ever thought of teleporting off of this planet, mainly because they never thought that you went off-planet and that there are other habitable planets out there."

"So I really can't come back without too much of a fuss, huh?"

"Not really. How about you finish this war over there and then come home after?"

"You realize that could take five years?"

"I know, but don't worry; I'll make sure to keep you up to date on what's going on. I'll even send you a late Christmas present: 'Star Wars-The Force Awakens'."

"So cool! Thank you so much!"

"It's not a problem! Hey, stay safe and warm!"

"I will!"

The connection cut out due to a sudden storm (which happens more often than people believe, and everyone went inside, with Elizabeth carrying her gift. Ezra and Luke looked at her, puzzled, and Elizabeth went to her room to take a closer look over what she had received. She smiled at pictures of her and her friends on Earth, her first day of school from kindergarten to high school, the big days in her life (including the day she began her Jedi training), and ended with a letter from Claire that read as follows:

"Dear Elizabeth,

"How's it going over there on Hoth? I bet it's a chore to keep the bunker warm, especially at night. It's almost Christmas over here, as you are aware, I'm sure. Snow fell in droves over here, and everyone's skiing or sledding on the slopes. It's the height of tourist season, and we're swamped at work.

"Mom really misses you, but when she heard about what happened she understood, and she is hoping that your war is over before she dies. I've tried to explain that it will, but she just said that she can only hope that it does as we both say it will.

"The FBI's still searching for you, especially because the Seedling division has become involved. There's a worldwide search going on, and I think it's best that you stay there for a while.

"Have you found any other Jedi alive? I hope that you did, because I know that you and Luke have need of training, and Yoda isn't the best (no offense to him) when it comes to being a teacher.

"Happy Birthday and Happy late Thanksgiving,

"Claire Langford

"P.S. I hope you like the memes. You need laughter in these years of sorrow and war."

She smiled at the thought her sister put into this gift, then saw that Luke and Ezra were looking on in curiosity. She invited them to sit and look at her gift with her. Much laughter and mirth came from the room, and soon all their friends (including Ezra's friends Sabine and Zeb, who were not previously introduced to Elizabeth) had joined them.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter, but I'm running out of ideas for this area. Hopefully you guys don't mind! I'll put in a battle scene for the next chapter that will keep the Ghost's crew away from the action of the movies.  
> Leave your thoughts in the reviews, please!

Over the next month or so, Kanan and Ezra trained Luke and Elizabeth in the ways of the Force, and they also trained Luke in lightsaber battle. Ezra still felt puzzled that Elizabeth would refuse to search for her kyber crystal.

He confronted her about it one day, saying, "I still don't understand how you don't think you're ready for a lightsaber. You're one of the most powerful Force-users I've ever met, and you are more than determined to become a Jedi."

"Just because I have power and determination doesn't make me a Jedi. It could very well mean that I could become a Sith," Elizabeth explained.

"Well, that makes sense, but sooner or later you're going to HAVE to find a kyber crystal to make a lightsaber. You cannot survive by simply not having a lightsaber forever," Ezra argued.

"Maybe, but not now. With what I am, I'm not sure I can even be a Jedi. The Dark Side holds a vast amount of power for Seedlings, and there's no way for me to fight it. At least, not forever."

"Don't worry, it won't happen. None of us will let it."

* * *

Elizabeth went to the outside of the compound and sat to meditate. Luke came and found her again just as her vines were beginning to freeze again. He dragged her inside, and Kanan and Ezra kept watch over her as she continued to meditate while her vines thawed. Her friends wondered worriedly about her well-being, which she seemed to care nothing about.

* * *

"Do you think that she'll be alright?" Leia asked a week after the incident happened. "She's been doing this since the first day we arrived. She argues that it's the only place here that she can do that."

"Why does she think that this is necessary anyways?" Kanan asked. "No Jedi I've ever known has done this at all, not even my own master."

"Isn't it obvious, Kanan? She doesn't want to fall to the Dark Side, so she's surrounding herself in nothing but the Light," Ezra answered. "Her location may have to be changed. Maybe we can make a place in the compound that she can go to that will be quiet and that she won't be disturbed. That seems to be the only problem that she has."

"Maybe you're right, Ezra," Leia said thoughtfully. "She's not really been the same since her sister sent over the care package from Earth. I think that she misses it. The only reason she's staying is because I asked her to stay. I'm not sure that was such a good idea anymore. She's really worried about revealing the location of the Alliance because of her brushes with the Dark Side. So far, it looks like her fears are unfounded, as we've been hiding here for this long adn we have not been discovered yet."


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I wanted a shorter chapter to do this, so here it is! I hope you like it!  
> This chapter will be the last that I mention Ezra and the Rebels gang until after ESB occurs in the story. Just a warning.

Elizabeth and Luke waved a hello to Kanan and Ezra as they got together for Jedi training. The blind Jedi smiled when he sensed their presences, but frowned when he remembered what had to happen that day.

"Hey, guys!" Ezra said happily, trying not to show his sadness and disappointment at the news that he and Kanan had to tell the two.

"Why the long face?" Elizabeth asked Kanan, not wanting to waste time with chitchat.

"Turns out that we need to leave later today for a mission," Kanan replied. "The whole of Phoenix Squadron is coming with us. We're sorry that we can't stay any longer."

"Maybe we can come with you!" Luke said, not wanting to miss any action.

"If you can get Hera and Leia to agree to let you go, but I highly doubt it," Kanan said. "You're needed here, Luke. You, too, Elizabeth. don't worry about us; we'll be fine."

"But our training isn't finished yet!" Luke protested.

"I am sure that you will be fine, Luke. We will meet again one day; I'm sure about that," Kanan replied, putting a hand on Luke's shoulder. "Just keep training. You'll be a Jedi in no time, I can feel it."

Ezra and Elizabeth, in the meantime, were having their own conversation in the side.

"I'll miss you, Ezra. It was nice having trained with you."

"It was nice knowing you, too, Elizabeth. I hope you figure out your part here. You'll need that knowledge."

"I know."

The two shared a hug, and Luke noticed, his heart tugging for a moment. He shook his head.  _You can't think that way, Luke_ , he thought to himself.

Ezra and Luke shared a look, and a short telepathic exchange took place between the two.

_Is that jealousy I sense, Luke?_

_Maybe. It's just... I've felt a way with Elizabeth that I've never felt with anyone in my life._

_I know the feeling, but not with Elizabeth. Mine are for Sabine. You know her, right? The Mandalorian?_

_Oh, that's right._

_Elizabeth feels the same way about you, you know._

_Really? She does?_

__Honestly, I'm not surprised that you didn't notice. She doesn't know that you feel the same about her._ She's afraid that it'll be her path to the Dark Side, Luke. Prove her wrong. Show her that it can keep her in the Light._

_Thank you, Ezra. I hope that we meet again someday._

_I hope so, too._

Ezra and Kanan then boarded the Ghost, and the ship rose with its fighters and blasted out of sight.

* * *

The Ghost arrived at Eadu, now a battlefield. Every member of the crew was ready to fight, which worked to their advantage. The strategy was simply to get the defecting fighters up in the air, then take Eadu. It had a special place in the Rebellion due to Galen Erso's sacrifice here, but it also held a good strategic point in retaking Lothal and a few other nearby planets.

The battle was long and hard, but in the end it was won by the Rebellion, but with hard losses: only two fighters and the Ghost remained of the Rebellion's ships from Hoth. Hera and the crew took stock of their situation while the defecting pilots and officers gave them a tour of the facility.

"It'll make a good base for the Rebellion," Hera remarked. "It's got good areas for landing pads and it can easily make minor repairs quickly, while having good areas to do long-term repairs quicker than usual. We've done good today, Phoenix Squadron."

"That's good, and it also provides us with a good place to have a memorial to Galen and Jyn Erso and the Rogue One team," Ezra added, caught up in the excitement of the moment.

"That will come with time, Ezra, but that is a good point," Hera told Ezra with a pointed look. "This place, more than almost any other, would make a good memorial to the Ersos and Rogue One. The only other places were destroyed by the Death Star."

"So we would make a memorial to Galen Erso?" one officer asked Hera, eager to honor his old boss.

"I believe so, but I don't suggest doing so until this base is secure against the Empire," Hera advised. "In the meantime, we have to get ready to take back Lothal. It's a good thing that the pilots here are willing to be a new part of Phoenix Squadron."

"Yeah, it is. We'll need backup when we go against those Imperials," Ezra agreed.


	10. Chapter 10

Years passed, and although it was only a few, it was still years. Elizabeth and Luke trained each other in the ways of the Jedi, and even went off after discovering a place on Hoth that held crystals that powered the legendary lightsaber blades.

**A/N: I will recount that tale here. I think that it's a bit important to the story, although it's up to you for that thing.**

It was about a year and a half since the Battle of Yavin. The Rebellion still had its little coups against the Empire, and as time went on, Elizabeth became more and more involved in the Rogue Squadron, also known as Red Squadron to most of the unknowing rebels. Rogue Squadron consisted of the top pilots of the Rebellion, and was named after the band of rebels, calling themselves Rogue One, that got the Death Star plans from Scarif to give to the Rebel Alliance so that it could be destroyed. Elizabeth joined Luke in his X-wing in their runs, and soon learned the various nuances of piloting. Luke had even given her enough lessons in piloting that Leia allowed her to have her own X-wing, which she used as often as she could to practice her piloting skills. Luke had gone with her in the "backseat" while he was teaching her, but soon began simply flying with her in his X-wing so he could keep an eye on her and give her pointers. She had no R2 unit to help her fly, so Luke had to teach her how to manually do many things that an R2 unit would already do automatically.

It was during one of those practice runs when Elizabeth sensed a disturbance in the Force. She said over the comm, "Luke, there's something there. I'm going to go check it out."

"I'm coming with you," he replied, looking to where she was turning the fighter. "Leia would kill me if I lost you."

"Understood, Luke."

The two flew and landed in front of a cave that the Alliance had not noticed in that year and a half. They jumped out of their fighters and walked into the cave, where they came upon an open cavern with a glass-like wall of ice along the side. Elizabeth sensed the disturbance again and placed her hand on the wall, which was surprisingly not cold at all; rather, it was warm, like the sun when it shone on an early autumn afternoon. She closed her eyes and focused on the wall, willing it to move somehow, to get out of her way so that she could get to the disturbance.

She heard a voice: "So, wish to find a kyber crystal, you do. Ready, are you?"

She said, "I'm ready. I have been training for this moment for a long time. I'm not afraid."

The voice came again, raspy and old, "Two standard hours, you have. Close after that, this wall will. Stay here, your friend must, to wait for you. If close, the wall does, leave, he must, to tell your friends."

"I understand," Luke said. Apparently he heard the voice, too.

"I understand, as well," Elizabeth agreed.

She opened her eyes to see the wall open in front of her. She looked back for only a moment before running full force into the gigantic tunnel. The tunnel was lined with ice on any side, but it was not cold at all. Elizabeth slowed down only when the disturbance in the Force was close by, and kept her mind and eyes open. She didn't quite know what to find, but she knew that it might stand out. It's hard not to do that when everything was glassy. She kept her mind open to any possibilities, and began to get fearful at not being able to find it.

Suddenly, the figure of Darth Vader appeared in front of her, and she thought that she saw a figure in a black robe in the space behind the feared Sith Lord. She recognized the eyes as those of the Emperor's. Her fear took her for a moment before anger and hate began to flow through her like blood through her veins. Her vines began to grow again with the intensity, and Vader took the opportunity to strike, igniting his blood-red lightsaber. Elizabeth quickly jumped out of the way and clung to the ceiling, not wanting to fight Vader while attempting to keep her anger and hate from taking her over. If this WAS really the Emperor and Vader, then there would be Imperial ships in the atmosphere, and the Alliance would detect them. Suddenly she realized: it was a test! She knew that she had to keep down her anger and hatred, and she focused once again on hiding and searching for the disturbance in the Force. It dawned on her then that the voice had mentioned a kyber crystal, the power source of the lightsaber.

As she searched, now knowing what she was looking for, she checked her chronometer. She had only an hour before the ice wall closed on her.

* * *

Luke watched the open wall in front of him as he sat in waiting for Elizabeth's return. Fear filled his bones as an hour passed without her returning.

"Much fear, I sense in you," the voice sounded out to Luke.

"I'm worried about Elizabeth. She's taking too long, she should be back by now!" the impatient man said, standing up and pacing the floor.

"Impatient, you are, as well. Take time, these things do, although I do not think that you know that. A Jedi, you are not. Trained by one, yes, but not one yourself."

"Yeah. Obi-Wan Kenobi taught me, and he taught Elizabeth, too, but for longer than with me. He's trained her for five years, and me for a day before he was killed. She's not really been the same since. At least, that's what Leia tells me."

"Meet, how did you?"

"Before the Battle of Yavin, after we escaped the Death Star. She was there to help the Rebel Alliance, and she developed the strategy to destroy the Death Star. I convinced her to come with me to destroy it, and at one point she gave into anger and hatred. She's a Seedling."

"Ah, that would explain. Never before has a Seedling been a Jedi. Too entrenched in the Dark Side, they are. The seed in their chests: the essence of the Dark Side, it is. Strong are they with the Force. Only dark desires, they have."

"Not her! She's strong. She's fighting the Dark Side with everything she has! She's different, I can tell!"

"All of Seedling heritage seek only darkness and power-"

"-but she's not of Seedling heritage! HER FAMILY IS HUMAN!"

A pause hung between Luke and the voice before the voice said, "A way to save her, there may be, then. Touched by the Dark Side, she still is. Understand this, you must. Only by rejecting it completely and accepting herself completely can she remove the seed from her chest. Only this way can she do so; otherwise, she will die if she tries."

"I'll find a way. I swear it!"

"Keep your promise, then, you must."

* * *

Elizabeth kept out of sight of the fake Emperor and Vader, and while she crawled on the ceiling she came upon a tunnel. She entered it and folllowed it to a small room with a bright pinpoint of light in the center. She reached out to it, wanting to investigate, and it flew to her hand without her even summoning it with the Force. She opened her hand once she caught hold of it, and saw what it was: a kyber crystal, blue in hue.

She gave a small whoop in celebration, and put the crystal in her pocket before exiting the tunnel and crawling on the ceiling again.

The voice said, "Face Vader and the Emperor, you must, one day, but not yet. Quickly; time is running out."

She understood and nodded to show it. She quickly jumped down and ran in the direction of the entrance, followed by a sort of dark veil. Her vines almost reached out to it, beginning to slow her down. She focused on Luke, and she began to run faster with a boost from the Force.

She ran out of the tunnel just as the ice wall shut again. She rolled to slow down her momentum, and she stopped right in front of Luke, who was standing in wait.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" he asked her with a smile, helping her up.

"Yeah, I did." She took out the kyber crystal for him to see.

"What is that?"

"It's called a kyber crystal. It powers the blade of a Jedi's lightsaber. Master Kenobi told me about this and wanted to take me to find one. I kept saying no for so long because I did not feel like I was ready. Now, I feel like, whether I'm ready or not, I need to wield my own lightsaber. The time for battle is coming, Luke. We need to be ready for it."

"Agreed. Let's head back to the base first. Nightfall's coming fast."

The two quickly mounted their cockpits and flew back to the base before the doors closed for the night. Leia ran up to the ships with a stern look on her face.

"Where were you two?! You were supposed to be back an hour ago!" she yelled as they got out of their ships.

"It's a long story, Leia. Jedi business," Elizabeth answered.

"Did you find another?"

"No, but we found a cave that houses natural kyber crystals."

"The same ones that powered the Death Star's lasers?"

"And the lightsaber on Luke's belt."

"Did you get one?"

"Yes. I'm going to build my own lightsaber. I just hope that I make it correctly."

"You can borrow mine for reference," Luke offered, and Elizabeth thanked him for it.

"Well, the time for you two to fly all over the planet has come to a close," Leia informed them. "Imperials are looking for us, and we cannot afford to have X-wings flying all over the planet. If you want to go on patrol, you will have to use tauntauns. I've already told everyone else."

"Thank you, Leia," the two Jedi-in-training replied.


	11. Chapter 11

Three years after the Battle of Yavin, Luke and Elizabeth were out on patrol when a meteor-like thing crash-landed nearby. They contacted the base, telling them about the happenstance and that they would check it out. They went over in the general direction of the crash when their tauntauns reared up, bleating like Earth goats in danger.

"What is it, girl? You smell something?" Luke asked his.

"Something wrong, girl?" Elizabeth asked hers.

Suddenly, a wampa attacked the pair, killed their tauntauns, and knocked them out.

* * *

Back at the base, Leia worried about Luke and Elizabeth. Han noticed and asked if the two had returned yet.

"No, and they were supposed to be back an hour ago." Leia was very visibly worried for their friends.

"Well, I'll look for them." Han was set in his decision, and quickly bundled up to go outside. It was nearly sunset.

One of the tauntaun caretakers said, "You can't go out this late; your tauntaun will freeze!"

"Then I'll see you in hell!" Han replied before riding the tauntaun out to the gathering storm that came every night.

* * *

On an Imperial Star Destroyer, Darth Vader watched as probe droid transmissions came in with the report that they all landed on their respective planets. He smiled a secret smug smile under his dark mask, thinking to himself,  _I'll find you soon, my son. Soon. I'll find your friend, too. I am coming for both of you._

* * *

When they woke up, they were hanging upside-down in an icy cave. Elizabeth woke up first before nudging Luke awake. They quickly realized their situation, and saw their lightsabers sticking out of the snow. They both summoned them with the Force, and the lightsabers went to their respective owners. The two ignited their lightsabers and used them to free themselves from the ice. They fell to the floor, and the wampa romped over to their position. They used their lightsabers to cut off either arm of the wampa before running out of the cave. That turned out to be a horrible mistake, as they ran right out to the storm.

Exhausted from hanging in an unnatural position and from the cold, they both collapsed in the snow. Elizabeth's vines were almost crying out for nourishment from the Dark Side, and began to freeze over. They stayed close to each other for warmth, but neither had much warmth to share in the first place.

Suddenly, the ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi appeared to the pair. He appeared to be glowing blue, but otherwise it was as if he was still alive.

"Luke, Elizabeth," he called to the two.

"Ben?" Luke asked, and Elizabeth asked, "Master Kenobi?"

"You two will go to the Dagobah system," the ghost commanded them.

"Dagobah?" Luke asked, and Elizabeth knew immediately what he was speaking of.

"There you will meet Yoda, the Jedi Master who trained me," Obi-Wan continued before disappearing from sight.

"Ben!" Luke called weakly, and collapsed from exhaustion and cold.

Elizabeth began stripping her outer layers to cover Luke without even thinking about her own warmth. Luckily for her, Han arrived and found the two, bodies freezing in the Hoth storm.

"There you two are!" Han called out, relieved. He noticed Elizabeth taking off her coats and interjected, "Hey, you're needing those layers for yourself! Keep them on!"

Suddenly, the tauntaun that Han rode collapsed from cold and exhaustion. Han got an idea and took Luke's lightsaber for a moment to cut the tauntaun open. He put it back before dragging Luke to the open belly of the tauntaun to keep him warm. Luke simply kept saying, "Dagobah system... Ben... Yoda..."

"It may not smell good, kid, but at least it'll keep you warm," Han assured his friend as he situated Luke to be as warm as possible but still have room for Elizabeth and himself.

Elizabeth began to black out, and Han put her coats back on her before dragging her to the tauntaun to get her warm, too.

The last thing Elizabeth heard before completely passing out was Han saying, "And I thought they smelled bad on the outside..."

* * *

The next morning, Leia sent out a search party to search for the trio in the snow. One of Luke's squadron, code-named Rogue Two, was the one who found the trio. He brought them back to base, smelly with tauntaun insides though they were. The two frostbitten companions were put in bacta tanks to heal. Han was checked out and was diagnosed as perfectly fine. Luke was the first one to wake up, and Elizabeth took longer to heal only because of her vines, which now covered her entire chest, her shoulders, and parts of her back and upper arms.

Luke noticed that she was convulsing and would have been screaming if not for the breathing system that she wore to survive in the tank. He worried for her and began to grow impatient in her recovery. Leia had to remind him again of her added frozenness with her vines, which were now vital to her survival. Luke wasn't worried about the frozen factor, however. He was worried about the nightmares that plagued Elizabeth's sleep. He watched over her, waiting for her to wake up.

* * *

Elizabeth woke up in the bacta tank, and was pulled out. She noticed Luke there again, watching over her.

When she was dressed again, she asked Luke, "How long?"

It was Leia who answered: "Only a few days. Not as long as at Yavin."

"They're worse now. They only get worse. Oh man..." She held her face in her hands in fear, and her vines grew and healed quicker than before.

"Hey, it's okay. It's okay," Luke said, holding her close to his heart, and she held on to him tightly.

"What if they find us?"

"They won't, El. Even if they do, we'll fight back."

* * *

The outside of the room was a hullabaloo. Apparently, the troops outside, with Han and Chewie with them, had discovered a probe droid which had discovered the base. The absence of the strategist was a strange sight, and the Blue Leader quickly went to her room to find her.

* * *

Blue Leader told her of the situation, and Elizabeth said, "Look to the skies. Keep your eyes there, and get ready for evacuation. Ready the ion cannons. We must be ready for Imperials at any moment."

"Understood!"

Blue Leader went out to carry out the orders before she told Leia, "Contact the other rebel leaders. We need to tell them about the evacuation so they are ready."

"Copy that."

Luke and she were left in the room. "The things you do to get us alone," he remarked before hugging her tightly one more time before helping her up and out of the room. They quickly got ready and got in their snowspeeder. Dak was usually assigned to Luke, but Leia insisted that the two old friends stick together. Besides, she needed to learn the snowspeeder controls anyway.

The two quickly got the snowspeeder out, and Luke told Artoo to get both of their X-wings ready to take off.

When they were out but not signed in, Elizabeth asked Luke, "You saw Master Kenobi too, right? Before we blacked out a few days ago? And him telling us to go to Dagobah? And find Yoda?"

"Yeah, I remember. You thinking of going there?"

"Yeah. Any training from an actual Jedi Master would be better than what we've got now."

"That's true."

They then signed on before they found the AT-AT walkers. Elizabeth remembered something from "The Empire Strikes Back" and helped Luke get the walkers to trip so they could destroy the walkers. Elizabeth and Luke's speeder crashed, causing both of them to quickly get out of it before a walker smashed it to bits. They took a few thermal detonators, their hook and lines, and their lightsabers to blow up the walkers from the inside out. Their mission was a success, as the transports all quickly exited the system. Han had taken Leia in the Falcon, and Luke and Elizabeth quickly got to their X-wings and exited the system. They quickly got to the hyperspace route and made the jump to hyperspace.


	12. Chapter 12

Luke and Elizabeth arrived at the Dagobah system moments after they left the Hoth system. The planet loomed green in front of their fighters, and it somewhat reminded Elizabeth of Earth. Her heart filled with sadness for a moment, remembering what she had left behind on that planet, then focused again, struggling to keep the droidless fighter on course.

She turned on the comlink and asked Luke, "So this is the Dagobah system?"

"It's the coordinates that Artoo had, so this must be the place," Luke replied. "Let's just try to find a place to land so we can look for Yoda."

"We'll need to use the Force to get a feel for where on this planet he is first," Elizabeth reminded him. "Otherwise we'll be wandering around on this planet forever."

"Good point."

The pair used the Force, and they found a place on the equator of the planet where the Jedi Master was. They didn't find the exact location, but it was a start. As they began their descent into the atmosphere, however, there was something that Elizabeth remembered at the last moment: the planet was a swamp with plenty of trees to block the X-wings from landing safely. She wished, not for the first time, that Leia would let her have her own droid for the fighter.

The landing was almost a crash for both of them, Elizabeth more than Luke. Both landed safely, however, and within seeing distance from each other. They got out of their fighters and took out their survival kits from the back of their seats. Both had their lightsabers hanging from their belts, and both also carried blasters which were standard for the Rogue Squadron. When they and Artoo got to somewhat dry land, they looked back at their fighters to see them sinking beneath the waters of the swamp.

"Well, there goes our way out," Elizabeth quipped.

"Come on, let's go find Master Yoda. He's got to be around here somewhere, we sensed it ourselves," Luke reminded her.

They traveled towards the disturbance in the Force that they were sure was Master Yoda, and when the sky grew dark, showing that it was nighttime, the trio made base camp where they were. It was dry and provided some shelter from the rain. Luke turned on his lamp while Elizabeth took out the food rations in her kit. The pair chose which ones they would eat that evening and began to eat their dinner. Artoo stood guard.

Luke, impatient as ever, complained, "We should have found him by now. Who would want to live in a place like this?"

"Someone who wants to hide from the Empire," Elizabeth replied. "Remember, Jedi aren't exactly loved by the Emperor and Vader."

"That's true, but I have a bad feeling, like there's -" Luke cut off as he whirled around to a little green creature with big ears, Luke holding his blaster and finishing, "like we're being watched."

"Away with your weapon; I mean you no harm," the creature quickly objected. He was hiding his face behind his arm, and he showed it again, showing a wise old face that had seen the horrors of a thousand years. "I was wondering - why are you here?"

Elizabeth signaled to Luke that the creature was harmless, and Luke put away the blaster.

Luke responded, "We're looking for a great warrior."

"War does not make someone great," the creature said, and in Elizabeth's mind that cemented what she suspected: this was Yoda. Why she doubted that it was Yoda was beyond her reasoning.

Yoda and Luke quarrelled (with poor Artoo caught in the crossfire) before Luke finally blurted out in impatience and annoyance, "We're not here to live, we're looking for a Jedi Master!"

Yoda's face brightened in expression as he said, "Yoda; you seek Yoda! Come; know where he is, I do!"

Luke and Elizabeth looked at each other before packing up camp and following the creature to a small hut. Elizabeth was impressed at its structure and the fact that it held up for about 21 years.

Luke was restless and impatient, however, eager to find Yoda, not knowing that Yoda was right in front of him. Yoda finished whatever he was cooking and gave some to Elizabeth and Luke to eat.

"Thank you," Elizabeth politely said before taking a bite. She actually didn't mind the taste; it was like the pot roast that her mother used to make at home. She grew saddened at the thought, knowing that it had been a year since she left Earth to help during the Battle of Yavin.

"Ah, so speak, you do!" Yoda said to her. "Worried, I was, that mute, you were! Like it, you do?"

"Yes, it reminds me of home."

"Home?"

"I'm not exactly from this galaxy. I'm from a planet called Earth, far away from this galaxy."

"A Seedling, you are?" Yoda had noticed that she had vines on her shoulders, half of her neck, and other exposed parts of her torso.

"Yes, I am."

"A Jedi, you wish to become?" he now asked her quietly. Luke was a bit distracted by his distaste of the food, so he wasn't listening if he heard them at all.

"Yes, I do. I know that I have a long way to go, though. Just because I have power with the Force and a lightsaber does not make me a Jedi. Not even my training makes me a Jedi."

"Ah, so doubt your destiny, you do?"

"What destiny?"

"Your destiny as a Jedi, I mean."

"I'm not even sure if I'm meant to be a Jedi, if that's what you mean by doubting my destiny. Right now it seems darker than night."

"Only because of the typical destiny of a Seedling is your destiny somewhat dark. A way out of it, there is. Know this, you do."

"If you mean taking off the vines, I've already tried that. I almost died."

"No, I mean removing them with the Force, with the light!"

"I figured you were Yoda earlier, but now I know for sure. Master Kenobi told me about you. He always spoke highly of you."

Suddenly, Luke got up and exclaimed, "Aughh, this is taking too long! This is a big waste of time!"

Yoda shook his head and said, "Impatient, he is. Impulsive."

A look of realization came over Luke's face as it dawned on him that this creature was Yoda.

A voice came into the hut: the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi, which said, "Was I not the same way when you trained me?"

"You were," Yoda replied to the voice. "Ready, he is not."

Luke was even more annoyed at Yoda's lack of confidence in him. "But I'm ready! Ben, tell him I'm ready!"

"Luke, you might want to keep yourself calm," Elizabeth said sharply, her vines feeling the annoyance and almost pulsed with excitement.

Yoda saw this and said, "Keep yourself calm, you must also. Too old, they are, to begin the training!"

"But I've been training for five years!" Elizabeth said in protest. "We don't have too much choice in Jedi! They are all dead, as far as we know! Besides, Luke and I -"

"Elizabeth!" Luke shouted, noticing the vines beginning to grow longer. He knew what would happen by the end of the night: she would have the nightmares again with the Emperor and Vader, and they risked being located by the Empire.

She realized what was happening and ran out of the hut, not hearing Luke calling her back. She ran to the place where she and Luke had made camp earlier and collapsed, sobbing over her failure.

Luke ran after her with Yoda close behind. Yoda, for the first time, realized her challenge should she continue her Jedi training. He also realized just how much Luke cared for Elizabeth, and how much they depended on each other and the Force.

Luke stopped in front of her and wrapped his arms around her shivering form. Her tears fell not only on her own vines but on his form, and he simply sat there, holding her tightly, protecting her from an unseen enemy. He simply held on as if for dear life, and she eventually said through sobs, "Why have you stayed with me for all this time? Why did you not run away when this first happened?"

"You're my friend, El. I would never let you run away like you try to every time this happens. What if they DID get you? I would never live with myself." Luke simply held her close while he spoke, and she eventually held him in return. Her vines stopped growing, and seemed to whine in protest. Luke and Elizabeth ignored them, however, and Luke seemed to use the Force to help her stay calm and collected.

Yoda looked on in astonishment. Never before had he seen a Seedling be calmed when in extreme emotion, much less by someone who had little to no training with the Force. He knew then that Luke must be trained, whether Yoda liked it or not. Elizabeth must also be trained to prepare for the days ahead, to rid the girl of the vines that plagued her mind and body.

"Train you both, I will," he finally said to the duo. "Like it, I do not, but train you, I will."

The two let go slightly, and Luke, now pacified by Elizabeth's manic episode, said, "I'm not afraid."

Elizabeth, now calmer and more ready, agreed, "I'm not, either."

"You will be," Yoda warned them. "You will be."

* * *

Leia and Han, in the meantime, were on the run from the Empire from the Hoth system on the Falcon. They were taking refuge on an asteroid currently, and were simply hoping to get the hyperdrive working again, as it had conked out while on Hoth due to the intense cold. Han realized that they needed help, and he found a system nearby: the Bespin system, the home of a friend of his that he hoped would help him and Leia out of this predicament, Lando Calrissian.

"Let's hope you're right, Han," Leia said, worried more about Luke and Elizabeth. They would not be joining the fleet as they were training somewhere else. She hoped that she would be able to see them again.


	13. Chapter 13

Elizabeth and Luke trained hard in the days that followed, and they both began to develop their own forms of lightsaber combat, playing off of each others' styles. Elizabeth became more confident in her abilities and in her emotional stability. Although her earlier outburst worried her about being spotted, she never sensed anything going to that end. Although the nightmares came that night and haunted her all through her training, she only had to look to Yoda and Luke to remember her reason for staying.

* * *

Han and Leia had landed on Bespin, on Cloud City, and met Lando Calrissian. He offered to let them stay and to fix their hyperdrive, and showed them every courtesy that he had.

Leia had a feeling that something was amiss, and it was a couple of days before her fears were confirmed. When they went in to dinner one night, Darth Vader was there, waiting for them. He made them prisoners of the Empire, and began to torture them, knowing that Luke would feel it through the Force, and that he would come to find them and rescue his friends - and fall right into Vader's trap.

* * *

Luke and Elizabeth were practicing one of their morning runs when they arrived at a dark cave. Yoda instructed them to stop, and told them that inside the cave was a test.

When Luke asked what was inside, Yoda answered, "Only what you take with you."

Luke went in first, and when he went out, he looked almost regretful, even disappointed. Next was Elizabeth's turn.

She walked into the cave, carrying her lightsaber and blaster, despite Yoda telling her that she didn't need it. She couldn't forget what she saw on Hoth in the kyber cave, and she was not intending on being caught off-guard again. She walked through the dark cave and summoned an orb of light with the Force to see her way through the cave. Suddenly, a figure dressed in black appeared in front of her. It drew a red lightsaber, revealing its form. It was a Seedling, and its eyes were yellow as the Emperor's.

The Seedling advanced, and Elizabeth drew her own lightsaber in self-defense. The Seedling attacked with a ferocity that Elizabeth had only seen in the prequel Star Wars movies. It took all that Elizabeth had to defend herself against the attacks.

The Seedling said in a dark and menacing tone, "I thought you were made of sterner stuff. Then again, you refuse to allow yourself to become one with the Dark Side, so you deny yourself the power that you crave."

"What kind of power do you think I'd ever want?" Elizabeth spat back, becoming angry at this stranger that seemed to have confidence that he knew more about her than she knew about herself.

"The power to exact justice on Darth Vader for killing your beloved master," the Seedling replied calmly with a sinister smile, seeming to know that she was getting agitated.

Elizabeth's vines twitched expectantly, and she pressed her lightsaber harder against the Seedling's. "What do you know about justice? You only desire power. I desire peace, justice, freedom! Power cannot give me that."

"That's where you are wrong. You CAN have peace, justice, and freedom with power. Use your passion, and you will discover your power. Through passion, you gain strength. Through strength, you gain victory. Through victory, your chains are broken. Is this not what you wish, that your chains be broken?"

"It is, but you cannot give that to me. No one can. Only I can do that."

"Then you admit that you do not need to be a Jedi?"

"Yes! No. I don't know." Elizabeth faltered, and the Seedling used the opportunity to attack more ferociously.

"You deny your true nature. You, too, are a Seedling. This desire burns deep inside of you, whether you realize it or not. Your family matters not, only your destiny. Become the Heiress, and realize your true potential, your true destiny!"

By now, Elizabeth felt the anger, hatred, fear, everything, coming up to the surface that she had buried for so long, and her vines were growing at a rate that they had not grown at since the Battle of Yavin. Her emotions took over, and she struck down the Seedling, striking at the place where its seed was at the moment of its birth. The seed split in two, and the Seedling laughed before saying, "Your power is considerable. You will make a good Heiress." He laughed one more time before exhaling his last breath, his eyes glazing over in triumph.

Elizabeth suddenly realized what had happened and stepped back, her lightsaber deactivating. She stepped backwards two more times before running outside the cave, tears streaming down her face and regret in her heart. Her vines now grew to cover the front section of her torso completely down to the waistline, and now covered half of her back and her shoulders. Her hair flew behind her as she exited the cave, pushing down her negative emotions that caused her vines to grow and running all the way back to the hut. She ran even past the hut to the location where the X-wings had sunk beneath the waters. She fell to her hands and knees and began sobbing in regret, now sure that the Emperor would locate her and Luke because of her failure.

Luke ran after her, realizing what was happening, and found her sobbing on her hands and knees. He tried to put a hand on her back, but she jerked away, screaming, "LEAVE ME ALONE! You don't realize what I've done, what kind of monster I am!"

Luke was taken back for a moment, and only needed one look at her vines to get a general idea of what happened. "NO!" he shouted with conviction. "I won't leave you alone! I need you, and you need me! I may not know exactly what happened in there, but I can tell what you did: you gave into the emotions that you've been suppressing and used the power of the Dark Side. Do I know why? No. Do I care? No! I will stay right with you, no matter what, because you know what? You're my best friend, and I love you! I may not have said it at all since I met you, but I do!"

Before he could finish, however, Elizabeth felt the pain that was brought on by the headache from her nightmare visions. This one was different from the others, however, in that instead of the Emperor and Vader beckoning her to the Dark Side being seen, she saw their friends being tortured on Cloud City on Bespin. The vision ended more quickly than usual, and she found that she was still on her hands and knees on the shore. Luke had lowered himself to her level, firm hand on her back, worried eyes on hers.

"Elizabeth, can you hear me?" he asked worriedly. "Are you there?"

"Luke, we need to help our friends!" Elizabeth said, alert and ready to battle if needed. "They're being tortured, I saw it! Instead of the usual vision, I saw them being tortured! We need to help them!"

After a moment in which Luke thanked the Force for letting her not fall unconscious again, he noted, "Well, we could if our fighters were not sunk."

"Use the Force, you can, to get them out," Yoda said, surprising them. Apparently, he had been walking that way after Luke and Elizabeth for a while.

"But they're too big!" Luke protested.

"Not for the Force," Yoda retorted.

Luke sighed, and he helped Elizabeth get up before closing his eyes and holding his hand out. Elizabeth nodded and did the same, picturing the X-wing in her mind and reached out to it with the Force. Using the Force, she lifted up the X-wing and searched for a good place to put it so she could make repairs as needed. It took a while, but the X-wing got out of the muck and onto a surface that allowed for the fighter to rest for repairs. Luke did not succeed in even getting it all the way out, so Yoda got it the rest of the way.

Elizabeth quickly got to work, making sure that her fighter was still able to fly. As she expected with the old model, it was too waterlogged to be able to get off the ground. Luke's model was next up for inspection, and it passed. It was a newer model stolen within the past year, so it was more equipped for this environment.

"Looks like it'll be like old times for us, then," she said, alluding to when she would be behind the pilot's seat instead of behind the controls.

Luke and she worked quickly to get ready to leave, and Yoda protested, saying, "Ready you are not for this. If leave now you do, incomplete will your training be."

"We'll come back, I promise!" Luke said quickly while he and Elizabeth prepped for flight.

They took off before nightfall, and Elizabeth gave Luke the coordinates that they needed.

* * *

They arrived on Bespin early in the morning, and found it easy to find a place to land their craft. They kept their blasters and lightsabers at the ready, and they silently worked their way through the hallways, searching for their friends. Unbeknownst to them, Han was captured and put into carbonite, on his way to Jabba the Hutt, courtesy of Boba Fett.

They passed by Leia and a few others, and Leia started screaming before she was cut off, "Luke, Elizabeth, don't! It's a trap!"

Elizabeth felt Darth Vader's presence then, and followed it to a dark room with Luke right behind her. There, she saw Darth Vader, waiting for them.

"The Force is strong with you," he said before igniting his lightsaber and continuing, "but you are not Jedi yet."

Elizabeth, blinded by rage, realized what had happened and ignited her lightsaber, charging towards Vader. She fell into a hole in the floor and suddenly felt the freezing cold blast that enveloped the chamber she had fallen into, then felt no more.

* * *

Luke had fallen in, too, but he had jumped out before he was caught within the cold clutches of the carbonite freezing chamber. A carbonite prison lifted out of the chamber, and it fell backwards, revealing Elizabeth's face, contorted with rage and pain. He became filled with rage, as well, but caught himself and hid from Vader. He and Vader found each other again and fought all the way to a deep chamber that served as a wind tunnel for the city. Vader and Luke got to a precarious ledge in the middle of the tunnel, and Vader cut off Luke's arm that held the lightsaber. Luke backed himself to an overhang and balanced himself over the deep pit.

Vader taunted Luke, and eventually he got to the point: "Obi-Wan and Elizabeth never told you what happened to your father."

"Elizabeth never knew my father! And Obi-Wan told me enough! He told me you killed him!" Luke was very angry with Vader at this time, mainly because Vader had taken Elizabeth, but the taunting had not helped at all.

"No, I am your father," Vader said, and it took Luke a moment to process the whole situation.

"No, that's not true! That's impossible!"

"Search your feelings; you know it to be true! You also might want to know that Elizabeth knows more about this galaxy and its history than she will reveal to you."

"How would that be possible? She's not even originally from this galaxy!"

"Her world has an extensive knowledge of this galaxy, and she knew about me and you. She knows about the destruction of the Jedi, and she will be the one who destroys the last of them."

"She would never do that!"

"Would she? You know of her darkness. How else do you think she's as far along as she is with her vines? The Emperor felt her anger when she first gave in, and every time that she gave in after that. He may not have been able to locate her, but he felt her, and he knows of her power. Now she will learn to be in the Emperor's service as his Heiress."

"NOOOO!" Luke refused to believe it, but he knew that it might turn out to be true.

"Join me, and we can rule the galaxy as father and son! We can bring Elizabeth to us! I know that you care very much for her; join me, and we can rule the galaxy together!"

Luke simply shook his head and looked down before jumping down the shaft. He used the Force to land safely and get down a shaft to the bottom of the outside of the city.

Hanging there, he had time to think while he signaled to anybody who was out there with the Force, and he realized something: he had told Elizabeth that he loved her. He mentally hit himself as the realization came over him that he had revealed his secret to Elizabeth.

"Oh, El, Ben, why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell me?"

Suddenly, the Millennium Falcon flew under him, and the top hatch opened with someone under the opening, ready to catch him. He jumped down and was taken to the beds while the Falcon went to a Rebel medical station.

"El, Ben, why didn't you tell me?"

* * *

Vader took Elizabeth to his personal shuttle, and he went to Coruscant. Before going into hyperspace, he called his master.

"Were you successful in retrieving the rebels?" the Emperor asked Vader.

"I have successfully captured the one called Elizabeth Langford, master, and Skywalker escaped," Vader said simply. "Elizabeth is alive and perfectly in hibernation in the carbonite. She only needs to be taken out and recover from hibernation sickness to be ready to go anywhere."

"Good. We will bring her to the Dark Side and to embrace her destiny as a Seedling."

"Yes, master."


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Jedi and Sith alike!  
> Wow, this story's requiring a lot more research than I thought possible! I had to actually look up if one Force ability is actually a Force ability: Telepathy over a range of half a galaxy. Turns out it is, but only under certain circumstances (which I believe are compatible to the situation I have here).  
> I hope you like it! Please leave thoughts in the reviews!

Elizabeth woke up to find herself in a bed, placed so that she would be comfortable when she woke up. Her first thought was,  _Did Luke actually say that he loved me?_ The realization came over her swiftly, and she mentally cursed herself for not doing anything better as a reaction.  _Now I'll never be able to tell him I love him, too._

She suddenly sat up, realizing what had happened on Bespin: she was captured by the Empire. Without any thought as to where she was, she quickly got out of bed, made sure her lightsaber was still there (surprisingly, it was), and quickly ignited it and was about to cut the door open when it opened to a Red Guard.

"There is no need for using your lightsaber, Seedling," he said calmly. "I am here to take you to the Emperor so you can begin your training."

"Begin my training, my ass! I am training to be a Jedi, and there is nothing the Emperor can do to change my mind!" Elizabeth shot back defiantly.

"We will see about that," the guard said before beckoning to her to follow him.

She huffed, deactivated her lightsaber, and followed him, hoping to figure out her location so she could get outside and teleport out of there. The guard led her to an impressive throne room with an old man sitting in a throne on a circular dais. He wore a black robe, and she saw that his eyes glowed yellow. She recognized his form from her nightmares: Darth Sidious, also known as the Emperor.

She visibly cringed out of fear and also of disgust  **(what can I say, time was not kind on the Emperor; he was far from good-looking, even as old guys go)**. The Emperor simply smiled, and motioned for the guard to leave. It did, and the door shut her in. She was trapped.

"Welcome, my Heiress. It is time to embrace your destiny."

"Like I would do such a thing!" Elizabeth spat back at the Sith Lord. "I will be a Jedi, not one of your Dark Side slaves!"

"Oh, Elizabeth, you don't know what you're capable of. You deny yourself your true power. Your lineage will prove you the weaker in the Light."

"What would YOU know of my lineage? My family is not that of Seedlings: it is human!"

This took the Emperor by surprise, and Elizabeth used the opportunity to activate her lightsaber and attempt to strike at the Emperor. He quickly recovered from his shock just in time to shoot force lightning from his fingertips at Elizabeth, and she redirected her efforts to deflect it away from herself.

"Your family may not be Seedlings, but YOU are, and that's what truly matters, does it not?" He smiled when he saw her face contort with anger and hatred, knowing that he was winning.

Elizabeth simply closed her eyes, and her hatred took over. She remembered no more until she woke up that night in her bed, her vines growing more intricately on her chest after having been singed off. She fell face-first on her pillow and sobbed over her failure, feeling truly alone.

* * *

Luke looked at his new arm as he watched the doctor go through the final tests to make sure that it was fully operational. He looked to Leia, who was happy that he was recovering but unhappy that Elizabeth was captured by the Empire (not to mention Han was in the custody of Jabba the Hutt). Luke was upset, too, wondering how in the Force Elizabeth could have known about Vader being his father, or how she knew all that Vader said she did. Finding out that Vader was his father was bad enough; finding out about Elizabeth was simply the icing on the cake.

"How could she have known? Was Vader even telling the truth?" Luke asked Leia.

"I don't know; maybe her things can give us a clue," Leia replied. She had kept a box of Elizabeth's things for safekeeping.

The two left the room when the doctor cleared him to go, and they looked through the box, making sure to put everything back when they were done. What they found astonished them: multiple books and discs about something called Star Wars, which seemed to be about their galaxy. They looked at everything that had happened before this had happened, and simply were surprised as to their discovery. Darth Vader really was Luke's father, and Elizabeth had kept it a secret from EVERYONE. Luke was, understandably, distraught.

"How could she have known this and not tell me?!" he shouted in frustration. "How could she have kept this a secret from me?!"

"Luke, calm down, you're going to worry the others!" Leia told him with a strong voice that said that she gave no fucks about his tantrum.

Luke did calm down before continuing, "Well, I'm still miffed that she didn't tell me such an important piece of information about my life, my family!"

"She probably didn't want to startle you. Besides, how would you ever believe before now that Darth Vader is your father, even if it was from Elizabeth?"

"You're right... Well, we have an opportunity here. We can see what happens after now. We can see how we rescue Han! We can see if we defeat the Empire!"

"Elizabeth probably didn't want us to know this for a reason! If we know the future, we'll try to stop the bad things that will happen. That's why she didn't tell us anything, about Hoth, about Bespin!"

"You're right again, Leia. We really should figure out how to rescue Han anyway; maybe this one can help us out: Return of the Jedi."

"What do you mean? We might end up watching it to the end! Besides, there's one major thing that's not there: Elizabeth! She's nowhere to be found anywhere here! She may have changed what has happened enough as it is, she doesn't want to change too much!"

"All right, all right... We really should rescue her, though."

"Here's the problem: we know where Han is, but not Elizabeth! We can't rescue someone whose location is unknown!"

"Okay, maybe there's a way to locate her through the Force!"

"You really think that you can do that?"

"Maybe, if I try hard enough, although the Emperor wasn't able to locate her, so I don't know for sure..."

"Only one way to find out, Luke..."

* * *

Later that night, Elizabeth felt a disturbance in the Force. Hoping it wasn't the Emperor again, she opened her mind and discovered that Luke was trying to contact her.

"El, are you there? Can you hear me?" the voice came out of the void of the Force. "El, are you out there?"

"Lu? Is that you?" she replied, not knowing if this was a trick from the Emperor or not. "Is that actually you?" Tears filled the Seedling's eyes with sorrow and joy.

"El! You're alive AND out of the carbonite! Oh, by the Force, I'm so happy now that I've found you!"

"I can sense it seeping out of your pores! What happened over there?"

"I think you know, El, and I think you know what I've discovered." Luke did not waste any time in getting to his point.

"Luke, I'm sorry I didn't tell you. If you had known the truth about your father, who knows what could have happened? Trust me, it was the only way."

"I know, El, and I forgive you. We're looking for you; do you know where you are?"

"All I know is that I'm under the custody of the Emperor. He still wants to make me his Heiress."

"El, we will do everything in our power to rescue you."

"You do realize I can simply try to find a way outside and meet you at a certain rendezvous point?"

"You can do that?"

"Yes, I can. How do you think I got to this galaxy in the first place?"

"That's a good point. Do you have a plan, though?"

"Not right now. I still don't know how I'll leave the room without being detected by the guards. They aren't your run-of-the-mill bucketheads; they're Force-sensitive Red Guards!"

"Do you still have your lightsaber?"

"Yes, but I have no idea what's on the other side of the wall."

"There's only one way to find out."

"Where should I meet you?"

"Meet me on Lothal. We're going there to help the Phoenix Squadron anyways."

"I'll do what I can. No promises, though."

"Understood. I'll meet you outside of the usual ground base."

"Hopefully I'll meet you there."

The connection was still there, but the message was over. Elizabeth had decided not to tell Luke of her failure, and simply get outside. She activated her lightsaber and began cutting a hole in the wall opposite the door. She got into a series of rooms that went to the outside of the building, and she quickly figured out where she was: the Imperial Spire on Coruscant. She was about to teleport when she noticed the ruins of the Jedi temple within running and Force-jumping distance. Her curiosity took her, and she hurried off to an area where she could Force-leap to different platforms towards the Temple. She made her way to the ancient pool of tranquility marred by the Dark Side - and Darth Vader's actions of 23 years previous.

* * *

Luke opened his eyes, almost bursting at the seams with joy. Leia saw this and asked, "Did you find her?"

"She's alive and out of the carbonite! She doesn't know where she is, but she still has her lightsaber!"

"Why does she have her lightsaber?"

"My guess? The Emperor wants her to keep it for her training as his Heiress."

"So she just plans on using it to slice her way out of there and meeting us somewhere?"

"That's her plan. She plans on teleporting to Lothal."

"Lothal? Why Lo- You told her Lothal, didn't you?"

"It was the first system that came to mind! What was I supposed to tell her?"

"To scope out her location and tell us where she is so we can mount a rescue mission! We're already working on Han's rescue, we can't have Elizabeth botching her own!"

"Okay, I'll try to contact her again."

"Not now; she's probably needing to get out of there as best she can."

"Well, what SHOULD we do, then?"

"We should contact Phoenix Squadron on Lothal and tell them that Elizabeth should be appearing there soon. They will help her get back to us."

"All right, Leia. I hope you're right."


	15. Chapter 15

Elizabeth finally landed on the level of the entrance to the Jedi Temple and sighed, happy to have arrived at such an important piece of Jedi history. She walked inside, watching her back and hoping that the bodies of younglings were, at the very least, out of sight.

She was wrong. Bodies were still strung all over the floor of the Temple, and she cringed and tried not to look at the rotting, mutilated bodies. If it wasn't for the fact that the bodies were decomposing, she would have gathered them all up at once and put them on a homemade funeral pyre to give them a proper burial. The stench was almost unbearable, and it took everything Elizabeth had not to puke. The girl held her hand up, using the Force as much as she could to move the bodies to a single space in the ruined temple. Once the bodies were all moved properly, she found a way to burn them, and only watched for a few moments before hurrying to the outside on the side of the temple opposite the Imperial Spire.

When she arrived, she cursed herself for her foolishness in looking for the temple. In front of her was a group of stormtroopers led by Darth Vader, whose lightsaber was drawn, its scarlet blade offering light in the darkening night.

"You should not have looked for this place," Vader warned her as he advanced, his stormtroopers keeping their sights on the girl.

"I'll be out of here before you know it, Vader," Elizabeth shot back as she thrust her hands into the sky, about to teleport to Lothal.

Vader grabbed her wrist before she could, however, and she was unable to teleport herself away.

 _I'm so sorry, Luke,_  she thought as she felt the pain of Vader's grip on her arm rise.

"It looks like you are wrong, young one," Vader noted as he dragged her to his transport.

The stormtroopers followed them, and Elizabeth realized that there was no chance of escape now. She would have to rely on the Rebellion to do so.

* * *

Luke and Leia landed on Lothal, finding Hera very easily.

"I assume that you aren't here on a pleasure trip," the Twi'lek predicted as she watched the two descend the ramp off of the ship.

"Is Elizabeth here?" Luke asked quickly.

"No, was she supposed to come?"

"You mean she hasn't come?" Leia asked. "She must be on a ship!"

"What do you mean? What's going on?" Hera was getting impatient.

"She's been captured by the Empire, and she was supposed to teleport herself here and meet us." Luke quickly explained.

He then felt something in the Force and heard Elizabeth's voice:  _I'm so sorry, Luke._

"She couldn't. They caught her trying to escape and won't let her," he said as he realized. "We need to rescue her ourselves."

"You know we can't! Not until we have Han back, at least," Leia protested as Hera watched in confusion.

"Was Han captured, too?" Hera asked.

"Yes, and he's now under the custody of Jabba the Hutt," Leia explained, her voice almost cracking with sadness as she thought of her love being the prisoner of such a vile piece of slime.

Hera noticed and, remembering a love that she had lost in the battle to take back Lothal, gave Leia a big hug, offering comfort to the princess. Leia accepted it graciously, and tears streamed down her face. It was like she had lost her whole world again in front of her eyes, and although she had to stay strong, she didn't know if she could.

Hera said, "I lost the one I love, too, while we were taking back Lothal. His grave is right over there. At least you have a chance of seeing your love again alive. I will never have that again."

Leia understood, and said, "I once lost my entire planet, and I know that I can never see them alive again, either. Now you somewhat know my burden."

"I'm glad that we can understand each other here."

In the meantime, Luke went back on the ship and found the room that he called his own for now. He sat in a meditative stance and reached out with the Force to the one that he loved.

* * *

On the transport, Elizabeth noticed a tremor in the Force, and closed her eyes and reached out. She found Luke, who was reaching out to her, and established a mental connection with the Jedi-in-training.

"Luke, is that you?"

"It's me. You got caught?"

"Yes. I made a mistake, and now I'm paying for it."

"You're on a ship?"

"I'm on Coruscant, near the Imperial Spire. That's where I'm being held captive. I got out, but I made the mistake of searching for the Jedi temple here. I got captured and now I have no chance of getting out. You're going to have to come and get me."

"At least we have a location now."

"For now. You're going to have to hurry, though, I don't know how much longer they'll keep me here."

"I'll do everything I can."

Elizabeth was suddenly pulled out by a blast of pain as Darth Vader grabbed her arm again, pulling her out of meditation.

"The Emperor will see you now," he stated, dragging her out of the transport into the Emperor's throne room.

Elizabeth watched as the troopers stayed behind and the scene around her changed to their destination, and when she saw the Emperor waiting, a triumphant smile on his face, she realized one thing: for now, she was utterly defeated.


	16. Chapter 16

A year passed. While Luke and Leia were working on rescue missions for Han and Elizabeth, Elizabeth was finding the Dark Side even more appealing to her than ever. The only thing keeping her from falling completely was her nightly communications with Luke.

Then, suddenly, they stopped.

It had been ten standard months since her capture by the Empire, and by then she had learned much in the ways of the Dark Side. She began to relish in its power, and a thought rushed into her head a few days after Luke stopped contacting her:  _Why did I ever try to fight?_ She suddenly balked at herself.  _Did that thought just seriously come from me?!_

She wished she could call Luke, but they hadn't been able to contact each other for days. She was sure that Luke was working on a way to do it, but there was hardly any hope for her (in her opinion, at least).

Over the next few weeks, it was exponentially harder for her to resist the Dark Side's pull. She had not the strength anymore without the support of Luke.

Then, it happened. Her hope was only holding out by a tiny thread of light, and the Emperor noticed.

"You know the truth already, Elizabeth," he taunted. "Your rebel friends are never coming for you. They have given up on you."

"That's not true!" she argued, although even she could tell that her voice was weak. She believed less in them than in the Emperor's words now.

"Admit it, Elizabeth," he prodded. "Your hope for a rescue has diminished so much that it hardly exists anymore. You have become powerless in this hope."

Elizabeth felt a pang in her heart. She realized that she could not fight it anymore. There was no more point in fighting the power of the Dark Side anymore. She had lost. She hung her head and fell into a kneeling stance in front of the Emperor.

"You - you're right." It was hard to say, but it needed to be said. "You're right, my Master. If they don't think that I'm worth rescuing after all I've helped them with, after all I've done, then there is no reason to hold out for them anymore." Her voice grew in its conviction as she said, "I pledge myself to the Dark Side, and I pledge my loyalty to you and your teachings, my Master."

As she said the words, she felt the Dark Side's power begin to flow more freely in her than in the entirety of the ten months she was with the Emperor. It felt like nothing that she had ever experienced in her life. She began to understand the lure of the Dark Side. There was nothing like it in the entire universe.

The Emperor noticed easily, and said, "I see you understand the power of the Dark Side, my new apprentice. Good. We have a real chance for you here, now. Soon, we will crush the Rebellion once and for all, and the Jedi will be finished."

Elizabeth looked up into the Emperor's eyes, hers now matching his shade, as her vines began to grow again and she said, "As you wish, my master."

* * *

Luke and Leia began to implement the plans for the rescue of Han Solo on Tatooine. Before Leia could go in for her part, however, they get a message from Rebel high command, and they answer immediately.

"What's going on?" Luke asked as calmly as he could.

"We have now found the location of Elizabeth Langford," the holographic figure replied, "but she might not be like you remember her. She has been spotted leaving Coruscant with the Emperor - willingly. Her vines... Luke, they were growing."

Luke paled, and Leia said, "Thank you for telling us. We'll have to speak more when we meet up with the rest of the fleet."

"Understood, Leia," the holographic figure replied before cutting the connection.

Luke put his hands, one robotic, the other flesh, over his face, hiding the look on his face and the tears that had begun streaming down his cheeks. Leia gave him a hug, trying to convey in actions what words could not express enough.

It had been two months since he was last able to contact Elizabeth. Something had been blocking him, and he knew that it wasn't her. He had his suspicions, but he wasn't entirely sure. Now she was lost to him in the Dark Side.

"Luke, we will get her back," Leia reassured him. "Just you wait. First, though, we need to get Han."

Luke nodded, sniffed once, and wiped his nose with a handkerchief that Leia handed him. He composed himself and took one last look at Jabba's palace.

It was going to be a long day.

* * *

Elizabeth walked off the landing ramp with the Emperor, making sure to only walk behind him. He was her master, after all, and the apprentice must never outshine the master while still the apprentice. Vader was kneeling in front of the Emperor and got up when the Emperor reached him.

"The Death Star will be completed on schedule, my master," he stated.

Elizabeth smiled. The Rebellion's time of reckoning was finally at hand.  _They'll pay for forgetting me_ , she thought, her vines pulsing. They had grown in her time with the Emperor and had finally decided to make themselves a little more fashionable. Now they acted as an undershirt with an intricate design all throughout.

She simply ignored the exchange between the Emperor and Vader, thinking on what she remembered from "Return of the Jedi" for the Imperials. She knew that the Rebels would find a way to win, although what happened with Luke would be a whole 'nother story now that she was involved.

She smiled. Revenge would be sweet indeed.


	17. Chapter 17

The mission to rescue Han was a total success, and on their way back to the Falcon, Han's vision got good enough to notice the missing presence of a certain vine-covered girl.

"Where's Elizabeth?" he asked immediately.

Luke's face fell again. "The Empire captured her," he replied, not mincing words with his friend. "She's been turned to the Dark Side."

The speeder remained silent the rest of the way, the weight of the words on them all. Elizabeth had gotten close to the Rebels during their time together, and although Lando didn't know her or meet her, he understood that she was a very good friend to the rest of the group.

"Perhaps there's a way to bring her back?" Threepio asked when they got back to the Falcon, not liking the silence or the gravity of the situation.

"I'm not sure, Threepio," Luke replied. "I'm not sure."

Luke's next destination was the Dagobah system, so he separated temporarily from his friends. They promised to fill him in on anything he missed when he came back to the fleet.

When he landed, he went immediately to Yoda's hut. His heart felt a pang as he remembered the training that he and Elizabeth had received during their time on Dagobah. He remembered his confession of love to her, and he felt another pang. She and he had reassured each other of their love every time they had spoken in that past year. Now he wasn't sure of her feelings, as he had not been able to contact her at all in the past two months. She probably thought that it was his fault, he reasoned, not sure how to make it better.

He went inside of Yoda's hut, and called out, "Master Yoda? I've returned like I promised!"

"With you, Elizabeth is not," Yoda replied from further in the house. "Captured by the Empire, she has been, then?"

"Yes."

**A/N: I'm not willing to write the entire exchange, as I'm sure you all remember it from ROTJ, so I'm going to skip right to where he goes outside and speaks to Obi-Wan.**

Luke walked outside and brushed his fingers against the X-wing fighter that had brought him here. Artoo beeped out a question, and Luke could only look at him before hanging his head.

"He is one with the Force now, Luke," Obi-Wan's voice called out, sounding echo-y.

Luke realized that it really was Obi-Wan, and exclaimed, "Obi-Wan!" He saw the blue-tinted ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi materialize and walk over to him. The two sat on a fallen log nearby, and Luke sighed. "I guess you already know what happened with Elizabeth."

Obi-Wan nodded. "She has been seduced by the Dark Side. Her resistance and courage are admirable, I will admit. Someone blocked her from reaching you, though. Someone who wants you two to be enemies."

Luke looked up. "I figured out that much already. I'm really worried about her." He looked at Obi-Wan and chose to change the subject. "Why did you not tell me what really happened to my father? You told me that Vader betrayed and murdered my father."

 

**A/N: I'm not willing to write that part either (partially because I'm not at a good enough time span to watch the part multiple times and ruin ROTJ for myself), so let's skip to when he's finally back with the Rebellion (I had to keep myself from writing Resistance there - "Lullabye" is messing with my mind (I suggest reading it; it's a good story (in my opinion, at least))).**

Luke returned to the place where the Alliance fleet was meeting up for the final attack against the Empire. He walked in during the briefing, and Leia filled him in on the rest. It was confirmed by the spies that Elizabeth was on the Death Star orbiting Endor with the Emperor, helping him oversee the final preparations for the weapon. The generals of the fleet were more worried over the fact that Elizabeth was the best strategist of the Alliance before her capture by the Empire. She might now be the best of the Empire's fleet, and that would mean a very bad defeat for the Alliance. They looked over the reports from the Bothan spies again and came to the conclusion that Elizabeth was not the military strategist in charge at all. In fact, she was simply there as the Emperor's apprentice.

Luke worried about what that might mean.

After the strike team leaders were assembled for the descent on Endor, Luke simply sat with the uniform on over his Jedi garb in the shuttle that they had stolen to go past the shields. He worried for Elizabeth and tried again to contact her. He felt a chink in the armor over her mind, and wriggled his mind in.

 

Elizabeth was looking out the window of the throne room of the second Death Star as she felt a foreign, yet familiar, presence in her mind. She excused herself to the refresher, and once sure that she was alone, she went into a meditative stance.

Her eyes opened to a familiar white plane, and right in front of her was Luke. He looked slightly different, and she remembered something from her past life on Earth, and it told her that the black glove on his right hand now was covering a robotic prosthetic arm.

"Well, well, well," she said with a very annoyed tone. "Look who finally decided to show up after two months of not speaking to me at all: Luke Skywalker, the man who kept wanting to rescue me and finally gave up. The man who claimed to love me then refuses to contact me for two months."

Luke looked very hurt by her words. "You think I did that on purpose?" he asked her with a tone that matched his face.

Elizabeth felt a slight stab in her heart but decided to ignore it and use that pain for her power.

"Someone was blocking us," he continued, and she focused back on his words. "Someone wanted us apart physically and mentally. Elizabeth, we need to get you out of there!"

"Well, things have changed since you stopped contacting me!" she yelled back at him. He looked hurt again and her heart felt another pang, but she didn't stop. "I gave up on you ever coming to rescue me! I understood you wanting to get Han before me, but not sensing anything from you for all of this time really put a strain on me! Now, instead of trying to rescue me, the next time you see me will be for your own death! I know you're coming to Endor, Luke, and I will be waiting! Just like I have for a year!"

She cut the connection off before he could say another word, then could only hold her composure before breaking down into sobs.  _Why did I do that?!_  she thought angrily. She then remembered how she could use her anger for her power, and channeled that anger and waited.

The time would come soon for her revenge. She wanted as much power as she could get for that moment.

 

Luke opened his eyes and found that he was breathing harder than he ever had in his life. His eyes went up and found Leia and Han's, looking at him worriedly.

"I finally found a way to talk to her again," he said, "although she doesn't want to talk to me anymore. She thinks I abandoned her, gave up on her. She knows I'm coming. I'm endangering the mission."

"You're talking crazy talk, Luke," Han assured his friend, putting a hand on Luke's knee. "Everything's going to be just fine. We need you, anyway, and you know that."

Luke tried - and failed - to smile for his friends. Han didn't understand, not completely. Luke didn't expect him to. Han had been frozen in carbonite for the whole time Luke and Leia were trying to save her. He didn't know what had happened in the year that had passed. Luke forgave him, and simply focused on the blur of stars that surrounded the ship in hyperspace. As the stars finally became lines, then points in the sky, a green moon orbiting a large planet appeared in front of them, and among the objects in the viewscreen was an incomplete copy of the Death Star from four years previous.

Luke sensed two familiar presences on the battlestation and knew that it was nearly time for the battle.

He dreaded the moment that it would come.


	18. Chapter 18

Elizabeth stood at the massive window facing the forest moon of Endor alongside the Emperor's throne, where her Master sat, watching the moon below with her. The plan was set into motion. It was easy to bribe the Bothan who had given the information to the Rebellion. Elizabeth was uncertain as to whether saying that she was there was a wise decision at first, but she eventually saw the Emperor's reason as to why the information was added in: the Rebellion would think that she would be at the head of the army, and the thought would terrify the Rebellion, as she was an amazing strategist –

 _No,_  she reminded herself.  _Battle meditation._

She had learned about the ability only a little bit on Earth, and she didn't even realize that it was a natural ability of hers until the Emperor noticed it a week previously when she was going through a practice battle in the simulator on the second Death Star. He had noticed not only her prowess as a commander and a fighter, he noticed the reason why: her abilities in the Force, including battle meditation. He had told her of this ability, and she had worked the entire time on improving her ability.

Now she was sure that she was ready to lead the Imperial army against the Rebellion, although her Master said that he thought that it was unnecessary to do so.

Then she felt the presence of Luke Skywalker in a shuttle on its way to Endor and smiled. Revenge would be sweet for her. Once he was dead – or turned – she would lead the Imperial army into victory. She knew that the Rebellion did not need Luke to destroy the battlestation's protective shields, although she knew that he would be there in the throne room with her, the Emperor, and Vader.

Speaking of the man, Vader walked into the throne room and said, "The Rebels have arrived, my Master."

The Emperor turned around and said, "Yes, I know."

"My son is with them."

The Emperor seemed to be in shock for a half second, but Elizabeth noticed it, nonetheless.  _How didn't he notice it?_  She asked herself.  _Perhaps he is losing his power, or he has become so overconfident that he has forgotten that Vader may not be able to overthrow him, but I can._

She turned her thoughts back to the Emperor when he said, "And somehow I did not sense him. Are you sure that your feelings on this matter are clear?"

"They are, my master," Vader replied, conviction in his robotic voice.

"I sensed him, as well, Master," Elizabeth corroborated. "Perhaps…"

"Perhaps," the Emperor mused. He leaned forward, knowing that Vader wanted to say something else, as well. He didn't give Vader the chance. "You two are to bring him to me from the moon."

"Shall we start searching the moon for him on landing?" Vader asked, and Elizabeth laughed.

"He will come to us, Vader," Elizabeth told him in a smug tone. "He knew that this day was coming. He will not put up a fight."

"Are you sure?" Vader asked her. He was sure that she was overstepping her boundaries, but she was sure that she was being what she was: the Emperor's apprentice and the one who would take over when he is destroyed. She was his Heiress, and she was NOT about to let Vader outshine her, no matter how powerful he actually was.

"I am very sure," she replied, her tone becoming annoyed. "I've known him longer than you have, Vader, so I think I know what I'm talking about."

"I agree with my Heiress," the Emperor said, reminding Vader that Elizabeth would take over the galactic throne after he passed, not Vader.

Vader's anger grew momentarily, then calmed as he deferred to the Emperor, "Yes, my master."

Vader and Elizabeth went to the shuttle that was to take them to Endor, and Elizabeth smiled again, and Vader noticed it right away, but waited until the airlock was sealed before asking, "Why the smug tone?"

"My time for revenge is drawing near, Vader," she informed him. "He's forgotten me in our time apart. He will pay."

"You do know that the Emperor will want Luke to turn to the Dark Side, right?"

"Oh, I'm aware. However, there can only be two true Sith. After today, the balance will be set once more."

Vader didn't like the sound of that.

 

Luke watched off the hanging bridge at the Ewok village where the Rebels had set up camp for the night. Threepio was telling the story of the Rebellion's struggles to the Ewoks in their peculiar language, and the few words that Threepio could not translate allowed the humans to understand the place where Threepio was in the story. Luke could not smile at the droid's story, however, knowing what lay ahead of him. He had watched "Return of the Jedi" before rejoining the Rebel fleet, so he had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen. There was one major change from the movie, however: Elizabeth was now on the side of the Imperials, and she would want to lead the Imperial fleet at the point where the Rebellion was close to succeeding. He also knew that he wasn't needed for the Rebellion to win – originally. Now that he needed to keep Elizabeth busy, his help was more needed than ever before.

He was terrified of the prospect.

Leia came outside, and in the exchange between her and Luke, he told her of everything that he knew, including the fact that he must bring himself to the Imperials and face his destiny, whatever it was. Leia understood and let him go. He went off to the Imperial base on Endor, and knew that his time was at hand.

 

Luke arrived at the base and was brought to Vader and Elizabeth. Elizabeth smirked at Vader and said, "See, Vader, I told you that he would come to us."

"It would seem that you were correct, Elizabeth."

"Hey, it's Heiress to you!" Her vines pulsed a little more than usual at the spike of anger.

Vader made note of it and stood down.

Luke walked up to them as Elizabeth inspected his new lightsaber and said, "I see you've figured out how to get another kyber crystal, Luke. Not only that, you built your own lightsaber."

"Your skills are complete," Vader added.

Luke saw that Elizabeth now had vines all over her torso and that they were growing on her arms and legs. It acted like a protective suit on her, although they refused to go farther up than the middle of her neck or farther down than her wrists or ankles.

"El…" he said, unwilling to believe that she had gone to the Dark Side, even though the proof was right in front of him. "I'm so sorry…"

"Apology acknowledged, but not accepted," she snapped at him, pointing under his chin. "You left me in the dark, Luke, so I learned to embrace it! I trusted you, and you betrayed me! You said that you loved me, but you stopped talking to me for no reason until yesterday! You said you'd come rescue me, and you abandoned me!"

Vader put a strong hand on her shoulder and ordered, "STOP. The Emperor wants him alive, so I think that he'd appreciate it if you didn't try to kill Luke."

Elizabeth took a deep breath and pulled back. "You are right, Vader. Those were the Emperor's orders. Of course, I won't be taking orders from him for too much longer."

"What are you talking about?" Luke asked, confused.

"I am the Emperor's Heiress," Elizabeth informed him. "It is up to me to usurp the Emperor and take over in his place. When I do, I will become the Empress, and there is nothing your little Rebellion can do to stop me."

"El… what happened to you?"

"You left me. And I am no longer Elizabeth. I am the Heiress. You would do well to remember that." She turned to Vader. "Let's go back to the Emperor."

"Father, El, don't do this. I still feel the light side in both of you."

"So… you have somewhat accepted the truth," Vader commented.

"I accept that you were once Anakin Skywalker," Luke told him, and it was now Vader's turn to point under Luke's chin.

"That name no longer has any significance to me!" he said, his robotic tone a little angrier than usual. "Just as the Heiress is no longer Elizabeth, I am no longer Anakin!"

"Guys, I know there's still good in both of you. I can feel the conflict within you two; let go of your hate!"

"Hollow words for one who has given up hope a long time ago," Elizabeth said. "My hatred is what fuels me now; you will soon understand as I do what the Dark Side holds."

"What about 'Return of the Jedi'?!" Luke suddenly blurted out.

Elizabeth stopped cold before she opened the elevator. She turned around and asked in shock, "What?" Luke hesitated, realizing what he just said. Elizabeth prodded, "What about what?"

"'Return of the Jedi'," Luke replied. "You've seen it, too; you know what will happen."

Elizabeth still stood in shock, not knowing how in the galaxy Luke knew of its ending, then remembered that her things were still with the Rebellion from her time with them. She assumed that he had watched the movies without her there. Once that settled in, she set her face into one of hatred.

"I know of a possible ending. I will make sure that it doesn't happen," she promised him with a glare from her now yellow eyes.

She then opened the elevator, and the trio went in, going to see the Emperor.

Luke's last words as the elevator closed were, "Then El and my father are both truly dead."

The words chilled Elizabeth to the bone, although she didn't quite know why at the moment.


	19. Chapter 19

Everyone arrived on the second Death Star, and Vader and Elizabeth led Luke to the throne room, where the Emperor was waiting patiently. Elizabeth and Vader both bowed in front of the Emperor, who turned around in his chair.

"So you did manage not to harm him before bringing him to me. Good," he remarked. "You are learning self-control, my Heiress."

Elizabeth simply bowed, saying, "Your orders were to bring him alive and unharmed. What kind of apprentice would I be if I disobeyed you?"

"Indeed, my Heiress. Of course, today will be a great test for you all." He waved his hand, and Luke's shackles fell off of his wrists. "One of you will stand alone, my true apprentice. The Rule of Two dictates that there shall only be two, no more, no less. My Heiress, you are not yet a true Sith, but if you succeed, you will become one, and if we both succeed, Skywalker, you will be one of us."

"You are mistaken, your Highness," Luke said with the almost-serenity of one who was almost a Jedi Knight. "I will never fall to the Dark Side."

Elizabeth wasn't surprised at Luke's response.

"It is you, young Skywalker, who are mistaken… about a great many things," the Emperor said to Luke, walking up to him.

He then turned around and sat in his throne and beckoned for the trio to come up. They all did so, and Elizabeth and Luke stood by the window.

Elizabeth then turned to Luke and said, "Since you watched 'Return of the Jedi', I assume that you know that the Rebellion is going into a trap?"

"They will win in the end," he shot back. "You've seen it, too."

"You underestimate my battle meditation, Luke."

"Battle meditation?"

"I can change the tide of battle with a single thought. I've done it for the Rebellion so many times, but the Emperor has helped me hone my abilities so that I can easily be the Rebellion's downfall."

"That isn't the only thing on our side," the Emperor chimed in. "Now witness the power of this fully armed and operational battlestation!" He pushed a button and said, "Fire at will, Commander."

A shot came out from the Death Star and hit a flagship in the Rebellion ranks.

Luke tried desperately to keep his emotions under control, but now his anger was bubbling up, mainly towards the Emperor for doing this to Elizabeth so that she was able to carry out her word. It was also because the Emperor had put his father in such a position that he had felt that the Dark Side was the only choice that he had. Every last negative emotion came rushing to the surface after they appeared, and it took Luke everything that he had to keep his face straight and without emotion.

The Emperor felt the conflict in the Force in Luke, however, and said, "Yes… I can feel your anger." Luke turned around and saw that the lightsaber that he had surrendered earlier was now on the arm of the Emperor's throne. "You want this, don't you?" the Emperor taunted him. "Take it. Strike me down, and your path to the Dark Side will be complete!"

Luke looked to his side and saw that Elizabeth was focusing her attention on the battle outside the window. The Rebels were losing, so he made a last-ditch attempt to divert her attention that also happened to be what his anger wanted to do: he called his lightsaber to his hand and swung at the Emperor. In that instant, two blades clashed with his own: Vader's and Elizabeth's. The Emperor only laughed as the battle commenced. Luke knew that he simply needed to distract Elizabeth and keep her from being able to destroy the Rebel Alliance.

That turned out to be a mistake as he continued the fight. He was fighting not only Elizabeth but Vader as well. At one point, he cut down a makeshift ramp to a lower level and hid himself from sight. Vader and Elizabeth both stalked the area, searching for him.

"You cannot hide forever, Luke," Vader called out. "Your thoughts betray you."

"Your mind was always an open book, Luke," Elizabeth taunted further. "You do realize that I know your family secrets, and I know your personal weaknesses. I can destroy you without a second thought."

"Then why have you not done it yet?" Luke called back, silencing Elizabeth.

Vader continued, "Your thoughts dwell on your Rebel friends, on your old love, and on…" Vader paused as the realization came over him. "… sister! So, you have a twin sister! Obi-Wan was wise to hide her from me, too. Now his failure is complete! If you won't turn to the Dark Side, perhaps she will!" he gave one last taunt.

Luke couldn't take it anymore and jumped out of hiding. "NO!" he yelled as he began to fight Vader and Elizabeth again with a renewed vigor.

Elizabeth smiled. If Luke could be made to join her side, then they could both destroy the Emperor and get rid of Vader and rule the galaxy for themselves. She forced down the feelings of slight guilt over what Luke had said earlier in the silence, and focused her energy on the battle at hand.

Luke then cornered the two Darksiders, cutting off Vader's lightsaber hand and disarming Elizabeth. He put his lightsaber to Elizabeth's neck and was about to cut off her head when he hears the Emperor laugh behind him.

"Good, good. Strike them down, and take your place at my side as my apprentice!" he encouraged Luke.

Elizabeth was filled with shock, and no matter how much anger she felt towards Luke, she felt it dissipate as she saw the conflict within his eyes as he saw where he had his lightsaber and what he had already done with it. He deactivated his blade, and looked into Elizabeth's eyes. Elizabeth felt a presence trying to come into her mind, and she realized what it was: Luke! He had been telling the truth the entire time! He really had NOT abandoned her, as she had been led to believe the past two months.

A conflict came to the surface of her mind as Luke saw her yellow eyes flicker between their ordinary green and the Dark Side's yellow. Luke simply thought,  _Everything will turn out okay, El. Trust me._

He then threw the lightsaber aside. "You have failed, your highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me."

The Emperor, now standing, simply said, "So be it, Jedi."

He then held out his hands and shot Force Lightning at Luke, and Luke fell to the floor, screaming and convulsing in pain. Elizabeth sat up a little in the midst of the battle in her mind, and she did the first thing that came to mind: she called her own lightsaber and jumped in front of the Emperor, holding it out in front of her.

She called out to the Emperor, "Bringing Luke here today was a mistake, my old Master. He has reminded me of why I resisted the Dark Side's pull for so long: the love I have for him. Nothing in the galaxy can make me go back to the Dark Side, nothing! If that means that these vines on me will make me paralyzed for the rest of my life, so be it! This is who I am! I am Elizabeth Langford, Jedi apprentice! I will no longer be your Heiress!"

For a small bit, she was successful in blocking the lightning, but the power surge from the growth of her vines quickly began to run out as she pushed herself farther from the Dark Side's power. It wasn't long before she was running off of her ordinary Force powers, which were not enough to channel the lightning through her harmlessly. The lightning ran through both her and Luke then, and they were both unable to stop it as her lightsaber deactivated as she dropped it and it hit the floor.

Vader, by that time, had gotten up and took a spot by the Emperor, as he watched the two dying. Elizabeth would last longer, since all the vines had to be destroyed before she could, but even then she would eventually die. Luke only was able to look at Vader for brief moments as he called out in pain, "Father, help me! Please, father!"

Elizabeth then said something that called Vader's light back from where it was hidden for so long: "Remember your love!"

Vader, in the next moment of stillness (besides the Force lightning, of course), knew what he needed to do – no, what he MUST do. He picked up the Emperor and, despite the constant pain from the lightning, managed to throw the Emperor over a nearby edge down a long shaft to the center of the dreaded second Death Star. While he did so, Luke and Elizabeth were able to slightly get up and witness Vader's return to the Light. Elizabeth dragged herself over to Vader and collapsed out of exhaustion at his side.

Luke got up and ran over while calling his lightsaber and Elizabeth's to his hands. He placed his on his belt, and he put Elizabeth's on hers. His attention was momentarily called to her chest, where the last of the vines remained. They were separating from her chest, and he noticed something that he had never been able to see before: Elizabeth's seed. It was separating from her chest, and she was possibly dying. She and his father were now going to share the same fate because they chose to protect Luke out of love.

He quickly called up the Force and carried them both to the hangar bay, where everything was in chaos. The Death Star's systems were beginning to fail, and that only meant one thing: the Rebellion was winning, just like in the movie. Luke was happy that he was able to help in some small way (although it almost caused him to fall to the Dark Side), but he was unhappy because he knew that the two people on this battlestation that actually loved him were dying in his arms. He dragged their bodies to the ramp of the shuttle that was used to transport them to the station from Endor. He put them down for a moment to regain his strength when he heard a raspy, robotic voice:

"Luke, help me… take this mask off… so I can see you… with my own eyes."

"No, father, I have to save you!"

"It is too late… for that. You have… already… saved me."

Luke reluctantly helped Vader pull up the helmet, then pull back the actual mask. The man behind it was just like the man in the movie – older, burdened, ruined by so long in darkness.

"Luke," Anakin said, bringing Luke's attention back to the present. "There's still… a chance… to save… the woman… you love. It's too late… for me to, but not… you. And Luke… you were right. Tell your sister… you were right." His head leaned back as he breathed, "I love you… my son."

Luke brought Anakin Skywalker's head to his heart as he felt his father's life leave the man. His mind was filled with so many thoughts that he couldn't keep them all straight. The primary emotion running through him was grief as he held the man who was his father.

Another groan snapped his mind back into focus. Anakin had said that it was too late for Anakin to save his love, but not for Luke to save his own. Elizabeth's Force signature was wavering as she continued to fight off the last of the darkness inside of her veins. Her vines were dying faster than he had ever seen them die before, even of frostbite. He dragged Elizabeth and his father's corpse into the shuttle, then ran back to get the mask from the ramp. Once he had every part, he closed the ramp and put the shuttle on autopilot from the battlestation to Endor. After that was taken care of, he quickly ran back to where Elizabeth was, and now, all that was left of the vines on her body since he had met her was a seed and some roots. The roots were starting to fall off of her skin, and Luke remembered the voice's words from the cave on Hoth: "Only by rejecting the Dark Side completely and accepting herself completely can she remove the seed from her chest."

He remembered her words as she fiercely protected him, and he sighed. He held her head close to his heart.

"Luke?"

"El?"

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I…"

"Shh… there's nothing to be sorry about. It's going to be okay, El. Trust me."

"But Luke… my vines… I'm dying…"

"No, you aren't. Watch them, El."

She did so, and she realized: they were falling off, dying, and her heart rate was only slowing a little bit. Soon, the last root fell off of her skin, and the seed fell onto the floor. Once the roots fell off of that, it simply disintegrated into dust. She closed her eyes, feeling herself weaken for a moment. She brought her arm up and put it around Luke's neck, and he held her closer to his heart. Her strength continued to wane, and soon it was almost an effort simply to breathe.

She breathed, "Lu, I… love… you…"

Her eyes closed, and he whispered, "I love you, too, El."

Her strength was a pinprick now, and her lifeline was a single spider's thread.

It's a good thing that spider thread is strong as steel.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, and by now they were on Endor, and the Death Star was no more. That didn't matter for the two anymore, though.

Suddenly, Elizabeth's heart rate became stronger, her strength began to return, and her Force signature seemed to glow brighter than ever before. Luke raised his face from leaning on her head, and he gasped in shock and awe. Her whole being was illuminated in the darkness of the shuttle, which had automatically turned itself off after being left alone after landing. Light flowed through her veins, and where there once were vines, there was now beams of light. Luke didn't need to do anything to know that it was the Light Side of the Force. It was simply that powerful.

After a few minutes, the light subsided, and Elizabeth was still in his arms, breathing evenly. He squeezed her for a moment, overjoyed that at least she was alive. Anakin was dead, yes, but he had wished Elizabeth to be saved.

Elizabeth's eyes opened, and she asked quietly, "Lu, what happened? Why am I not… you know… dead?"

Luke smiled brightly as he replied, "I'll explain later. For now, let's get my father a proper burial."


	20. Chapter 20

Luke and Elizabeth stood in respect as Anakin's body burned on the pyre. Elizabeth's mind kept going back to the events of earlier that day, and her hand kept reaching up to feel the empty space where her seed once was. Luke noticed, and simply put his flesh arm around her shoulders, holding her close as they watched Anakin burn.

After a while, they both left the pyre and went to the upper tree levels, where they saw Leia and Han, who both cried out with joy at seeing them both alive and well. The two couples ran to each other, embracing each other in joy, tears streaming down their faces.

After a few minutes of a tearful reunion, they pulled apart, and Leia asked, "Elizabeth, Luke, what happened?"

"It's a long story…" Elizabeth said bashfully, scratching a spot on her neck in nervousness. She wasn't ready yet to reveal what had happened in the past year.

"What's important right now is that we're all here alive," Luke stated with a smile. "We can talk in the morning."

He looked to Elizabeth and smiled. She smiled in return, happy that he understood that she wasn't ready to talk yet.

Leia simply sighed and smiled as she said, "You're right, Luke. Besides, Elizabeth's back! You have no idea how much we worried about you!"

"And I you!" Elizabeth said, giving Leia a great bear hug.

They all laughed together as they arrived at the party that the Ewoks were throwing, and Lando and Chewie saw them approach. Chewie roared in greeting, and gave Elizabeth a giant hug, which she returned.

"Hey, Luke, I was wondering if you were still alive!" Lando greeted Luke. "And who is this lovely angel you've brought with you?" He took Elizabeth's right hand and gave it a light kiss. "I'm Lando Calrissian. Pleasure to meet you, miss."

"A pleasure to meet you, as well, Lando," Elizabeth replied. "My name's Elizabeth Langford."

"You're Elizabeth?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Luke's talked nothing but goodness about you, my dear! Looks like you finally got rescued! I'm glad to see that!"

"It's good to be back."

 

The next morning, Elizabeth, Luke, Leia, and Han all sat in a circle around a fire that they had to relight that morning. They all watched it burn as the questions hung over them like the morning fog. Each waited for someone to speak first. Elizabeth sighed and decided that she would be the first to speak.

"I guess you're all wondering what I've been through this past year," she stated, not asking them anything. When they all nodded, she continued, "I was brought to Coruscant. I had a feeling, when I first woke up, that something was horribly wrong, and now I know why. The Dark Side was calling to me more intimately than I liked to admit. Maybe it's because I'm a Seedling, or something else, or… I don't know. In any case, I felt so alone, even though I was being trained in the ways of the Dark Side. The only thing keeping me from going over was talking with Luke every night. Of course, that was stopped a couple of months ago, as I'm sure Luke has already told you guys. At first, it was torture, but the Emperor said that it was a taste of the power that I would wield in the Dark Side. It was indeed, but now I'm not sure if I'm Force-sensitive anymore.

"Whatever happened up there at the second Death Star, whatever happened on the shuttle, it destroyed the seed which has been on my body my whole life. I… I'm not sure what will happen now. I can't go back to Earth; that much is obvious. The trips from Earth to here and back again only helped my fall to the darkness. That, and I'm not sure if I have the strength to do that anymore. I didn't plan this far ahead when I first agreed to stay with the Rebellion. Then again, I thought that I would be with the Rebellion the entire duration of my stay. It seems that everything's changed, for the galaxy and for me." She buried her head in her knees. "I don't know what to do anymore. I can plan battle strategies that bring down entire armies, but I can't figure out how to live a normal life."

"Let's be honest, El, your life was NEVER normal," Luke pointed out. "Besides, I have an idea as to what happened yesterday. Do you remember when you found your lightsaber crystal?" Elizabeth nodded. "While you were in there, a voice – Master Yoda's – spoke to me. He kept trying to convince me that there was no way for you to resist the Dark Side and be a Jedi, but when I told him that you are of human origin, not Seedling, he said that there was a way, but only the one way. You had to completely reject the Dark Side and accept who you are, vines and all. That's what you did up there when you defended me against the Emperor, and that made the vines die. It made your seed die. It made you… human, or at least, it made you less of a regular Seedling. I'm sure that the Force is as strong with you as it has been for your whole life; you simply have nothing anchoring you to the Dark Side."

"So she's now more like one of us?" Leia asked.

"Yeah," Luke replied, taking a stick and messing with the fire. "Basically. Of course, there really aren't any records of this sort of thing happening before as far as I know, but, El, I'm sure that you can settle into a life with us. I mean, it's not like you're alone in the galaxy. You've got Leia, Han, Chewie, and me."

"Luke's right. We may not be of Earth, but I think, at this point, it's too late for you to go back anyway," Han chimed in.

"You've become a very big part of our lives, Elizabeth," Leia added. "Besides, there's still pieces of the Empire that need to be stopped from bringing it back. You can help us with that, and afterwards we can all figure out life together."

Elizabeth sighed and smiled as she said, "Okay. I'll stay. Thank you, all of you. I owe you my life."

Everyone gathered into a great group hug, and after Han and Leia broke off, Luke and Elizabeth kept hugging each other, taking in everything about each other.

"El… I've been wondering this for some time, but I think that it's time to let it out," he whispered.

"What is it?"

He took out a ring and asked, "Elizabeth Langford, you said that you wished to spend the rest of your life in this galaxy. Would you like to do it… as my wife?"

Elizabeth felt tears stream down her cheeks as she squeezed tighter and said over and over again, "Yes! Yes, I will marry you!"

They broke off their hug only for Luke to put the ring on Elizabeth's left ring finger, then they embraced again as Han and Leia looked on and smiled.

 

About three standard months later, Elizabeth walked down the aisle with a white dress provided by Leia towards Luke, who was wearing his usual Jedi robes with a few ornamentations provided by Han. They both smiled as they saw each other, and when Elizabeth reached the front, she and he clasped hands. Holograms of Claire and Mrs. Langford sat in the audience at the front, and nearly cried at the sight of Elizabeth's beauty and the wonder of the ceremony billions of lightyears away from Earth.

As the celebrant went through the vows, Elizabeth's mind raced through her time together with Luke, and she realized that he had loved her from the very beginning, ever since he invited her to join him in his X-wing fighter against the Death Star. She smiled even brighter as she said her last, "I do."

"I now pronounce you husband and wife," the celebrant announced. "You may kiss the bride."

Luke obliged – their first kiss. It was not much more than their lips pressing against each other for a moment, but it was enough. They had the rest of their lives to spend together. The greatest intimacies could wait.

At the reception later, they laughed, danced, and had the time of their lives with their friends with them, all celebrating their union. They smiled as they took the limousine to a hotel room where they would be spending their wedding night. They knew that the next day it would be back to the fight against what remained of the Empire, but for that night it was just them.

"I love you, El," Luke whispered as he carried her, bridal-style, into the room.

"I love you too, Lu," Elizabeth Skywalker whispered back, placing a peck on his cheek.


End file.
